3D Printed Capillary-Driven Cold Plate for Hybrid Two-Phase Cooling System

In this study, a hybrid two-phase cooling system (HTPCS) was developed for thermal management of high-heat-flux electronics. The HTPCS integrates capillary-driven evaporation from wicks with mechanically pumped two-phase cooling. The capillary-driven evaporation takes place within a compact cold plate housing eight heaters situated on both sides of the cold plate, each heater dedicated to an individual evaporator wick. The significance of this study lies in fabricating the entire cold plate through one single 3D printing process. Constructed from AlSi10Mg using a Direct Metal Laser Sintering process, the cold plate operated with the refrigerant R245fa across a broad range of heat fluxes. Comparative analysis was performed with a 3D printed plain cold plate (i.e., without evaporator wicks). The HTPCS demonstrated stable operation at heat fluxes exceeding 305 W/cm2, marking a more than 103% improvement in the upper limit operation compared to the plain cold plate. Within this heat flux range, the measured thermal resistances achieved by the HTPCS were ∼ 0.17 to 0.24 K-cm2/W. The developed HTPCS emerges as a promising solution for thermal management in high-heat-flux applications. Furthermore, the fact that the fabrication process for the cold plate involves only one 3D printing step significantly streamlines the commercialization of the HTPCS developed in this study.