Advanced Electronic Cooling Technologies

Aqwest proposes to develop an advanced thermal management for cooling of electronic components using an active heat sink (AHS) offering unparalleled capabilities in high-heat flux handling and temperature control. The project will produce a cooling system with the following benefits to wide band gap amplifiers and high-power laser diodes (HPLD): 1) Heat flux handling > 1200 W/cm2 2) Easily scalable by stacking to >10 kW 3) Heat spreading with equivalent thermal conductivity several times of copper 4) Temperature control to < „b1¢XC 5) Response time < 1 second 6) Compatible with DOD air and space environments The AHS removes waste heat from semiconductor material and transfers it to system primary coolant. It employs a miniature closed flow loop receiving waste heat from semiconductor chips at a high heat flux, transporting it by forced convection, and transferring it to an air-cooled heat sink or liquid-cooled heat exchanger at a much lower heat flux. The flow is maintained electromagnetically without any moving parts. Junction temperature is controlled by the flow velocity. AHS solves three (3) problems in one device: 1) effective removal/spreading of waste heat from semiconductor junctions 2) transfer of waste heat to a primary sink, and 3) temperature control. BENEFIT: Proposed active heat sink (AHS) offers unprecedented capability in high heat flux handling, heat spreding, and temperature control. AHS can couple high-heat flux / high-power loads to heat pipes, liquid-cooled heat exchangers, and air-cooled heat exchangers. AHS-based thermal management offers reduced size and weight. Military uses include thermal management of high-power laser diodes used in solid-state lasers (e.g., for lidar, target designators/illuminators, remote sensing, and laser communication) and wide bad gap semiconductors (e.g., for communication and electronically scanned radar antennas) on space, air, and land platforms. Commercial uses include thermal management of high-power laser diodes used laser material processing and solid-state lasers, cooling of high density chips in computer and communication equipment, and cooling of high-power electronic inverters in hybrid electric vehicles.