Capillary Action Heat Exchanger
- Technology Benefits
- ΓÇó Exchanger may be self-contained without external pumps due to capillary action of working fluid across the heated exchanger surface.ΓÇó Exchanger relies on working fluid phase change to remove thermal energy from the heated source. This provides increased capacity for thermal absorption.ΓÇó Channels may be fabricated of various materials from polymers to thermally conductive silicon or copper metals.ΓÇó High aspect ratios of channels yield increased thermal energy transfer.ΓÇó Design is highly scalable with the ability to add increased channel numbers for increased surface area coverage.ΓÇó Planar design allows integration with other devices for thermal control including CPU stacks and thermoelectric devices.ΓÇó Light weight. Lack of external pumps reduces overall device / system weight .ΓÇó Lower manufacturing costs with metal incorporation (versus typical micro-fabrication processes).
- Technology Application
- ΓÇó CPU chip coolingΓÇó Ambient thermal energy absorption for thermoelectric power and ΓÇ£greenΓÇØ energy production and energy harvesting applications.ΓÇó Solar cell cooling for increased operating efficiency of solar cells.ΓÇó Incorporation with thermoelectric devices for improved temperature gradients and increased power output.
- Detailed Technology Description
- ΓÇó Operation based on capillary action of coolant (working fluid) in micro channels.ΓÇó Thermal energy absorbed and transferred to coolant yielding evaporation / phase change and energy transfer from heated surface.ΓÇó Working fluids may be varied for different temperature boiling points.ΓÇó Channel materials may be varied to include polymers and metals.
- *Abstract
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Microfabricated / MEMS heat exchanger.
- *Principal Investigator
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Name: Leland Weiss, Prof
Department: Mechanical Engineering
- Country/Region
- USA
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