Development of Additively Manufactured Two-Phase Integrated Heat Sinks for Electronics Cooling Applications

As electronic components shrink in size and become more powerful, they create more concentrated heat that needs to be dissipated to ensure reliable operation. Due to the finite conductivity of the sink material, the temperature at the centre of the base plate is higher than the edges, leading to better performance of the fins at the centre compared with the periphery. Although incorporating heat pipes may present a viable solution, it is limited to simple heat sink geometries due to the simplicity of heat pipe shapes which constrains the heat sink design.
Additive manufacturing (AM) can be used to build innovative and functional end products at a low cost compared with conventional subtractive methods. Recent research has demonstrated the ability to create high-performance AM wick structures and this project aims to further use metal powder AM technology to fabricate entirely integrated two-phase heat sinks and their internal wicking structures with improved performance compared with conventionally fabricated heat pipes. This makes fabricating heat pipes with complex geometries a possibility, allowing for the use of more highly effective two-phase heat sinks in a wider range of applications.

Faculty Supervisor:

Roger Kempers

Student:

Partner:

Magna

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Wholesale trade

University:

York University

Program: