SBIR Phase II: Innovative Two-Phase Cooling with Micro Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes for High Power Density Electronics

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，它可以显着提高消费和嵌入式电子设备的冷却性能，在全球范围内竞争更高效的产品。与目前的技术水平相比，该项目的微型闭环脉动热管（CLPHPs）将提供超过40%的冷却能力，延长30%以上的电池寿命，并减少25%以上的电力消耗。它将由可回收材料（铝）或陶瓷制成，内部有一种新的环保工作流体。收入的主要来源将是通过向笔记本电脑oem和其他oem、集成商和最终用户销售基于clphp的散热器。我们预计在2026/2027年将进入主流和游戏“轻薄”笔记本电脑和电子产品市场，这些笔记本电脑和电子产品具有独立的gpu和需要先进冷却的cpu /处理器。CLPHPs为这些设备提供了现有蒸汽室，热管和散热器解决方案的直接替代品。主要成果是开发一种行业领先的散热器——被动运行，通过其自脉动机制产生冷却剂流，这对于薄移动电子产品至关重要，因为风扇或其他辅助动力非被动解决方案是避免的。SBIR二期项目旨在解决下一代5G/6G移动设备和其他先进电子设备（人工智能、物联网）带来的迫切冷却挑战，这些挑战目前尚未找到解决方案。目标是建立在第一阶段项目发展的基础和实践知识的基础上，以几何方式增强微通道，以增加内部表面积，蒸发和冷凝过程，以及流速，以实现更大的传热能力。这将通过在不同的加热条件和代表移动设备应用的方向下制造和测试两种新的CLPHP设计（第2代和第3代）来完成。我们的目标是通过这种颠覆性的冷却技术进入市场，这将提高数百万移动设备的性能，节省电池/电网的能源，并解开目前缺乏先进冷却解决方案所造成的障碍。新颖的CLPHP是许多新设备的重要“推动者”，这些新设备尚未被构想出来，并改进了现有的先进技术，几乎所有这些技术都受到当前冷却技术性能限制的电子“节流”。该项目将为美国/全球市场提供所需的冷却解决方案。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is that it enables significantly enhanced cooling performance for consumer and embedded electronics of mobile devices in the worldwide race for more efficient products. Compared with the current state of the art, this project’s micro Closed-Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes (CLPHPs) will provide over 40% higher cooling capacity, increase battery life by more than 30%, and reduce electricity consumption by over 25%. It will be made of a recyclable material (aluminum) or ceramic with a new environmentally friendly working fluid inside. The primary source of revenue will be via product sales of CLPHP-based heat sinks to laptop OEMs and other OEMs, integrators, and end users. We anticipate entering the market in 2026/2027 for mainstream and gaming “thin and light” laptops and electronics with discrete GPUs and CPUs/processors requiring advanced cooling. CLPHPs provide a direct replacement for existing vapor chamber, heat pipe, and heatsink solutions for these devices. The main deliverable is to develop an industry-leading heat spreader- that operates passively, creating its coolant flow from its self-pulsating mechanism, critical for thin mobile electronics for which fans or other auxiliary powered non-passive solutions are avoided. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to address the urgent cooling challenges presented by next-generation 5G/6G mobile devices and other advanced electronics (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things) for which a solution has yet to be found. The objectives are to build on the fundamental and practical knowledge developed in the Phase I project to geometrically enhance the micro-channels to increase the internal surface area, the evaporation and condensation processes, and the flow rate to achieve even greater heat-spreading capability. This will be accomplished through fabricating and testing two novel CLPHP designs (generations 2 and 3) under various heating conditions and orientations representative of mobile device applications. The goal is to enter the market with this disruptive cooling technology that will enhance the performance of millions of mobile devices, save battery/grid energy, and unlock the barriers created by today’s lack of advanced cooling solutions. The novel CLPHP is an important “enabler” of numerous new devices yet to be conceived and for improvement of existing advanced technologies, nearly all of which are electronically “throttled” by the limiting performance of current cooling technologies. This project is well-positioned to provide the US/worldwide market with the needed cooling solutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.