Force-thermal analysis of large-area microchannel embedded cooling plate in improving thermal management of high-power density data centers

ABSTRACTA thermal management method for data centers from the server level is proposed in this paper. This paper explores the high energy consumption of the server itself, proposing a principle of microchannel shape design for a cooling plate based on the principal stress lines (PSLs). Under the condition of a uniform load, the influence of the cross-sectional shape of the microchannel on the contact thermal resistance was found to be insignificant. From the analysis of cooling plate plane, the uniformity of the stress distribution of the microchannel determined the uniformity of the contact thermal resistance, which determined the heat dissipation ability. Experiments were developed to test and verify the cooling performance of the cooling plate as well as the performance differences with the microchannels along and away from the PSLs under deformation. It was concluded that compared with the conventional serpentine microchannel, the cooling performance of the cooling plate proposed in this paper was 4.5 ∘C reduction in average temperature. Furthermore, when the ultra-thin cooling plate was subjected to a uniform load distribution, the microchannel along a single PSL had the best stress distribution, that is, the contact thermal resistance had the least variation.KEYWORDS: Data centersprincipal stress linemicrochannel designheat dissipationthermal management NomenclatureTableDisplay TableDisclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).