Enhancing Heat Transfer in Porous Metals through Optimisation of Flow Resistance

由于体积功率密度的增加和它们所处的恶劣环境，热管理已经成为电子领域的一个关键问题。由于传统的被动冷却技术是不够的，主动冷却通常需要高散热率。多孔金属已被证明是高效和成本效益的散热强制流体冷却。阻碍其广泛应用的一个主要问题是，由于冷却装置对流体流动的阻力大，使工作流体通过冷却装置所需的泵送功率高。该项目旨在解决由空间支架方法制造的多孔金属热应用中的科学和技术问题，这种金属具有独特的多孔结构和独特的传热行为。该研究的目的是了解流动阻力，传热和孔隙结构之间的机制关系，并开发技术来创建定制的多孔金属结构，以显着提高传热性能，同时最小化流动阻力。将结合制造、性能表征、建模和工艺开发来确定多孔金属中支撑热流体行为的基本结构特性，量化它们对传热系数和流体流动阻力的影响，并设计和制造非均匀多孔结构，以实现总体主动冷却性能的逐步变化。热管理产品的全球市场规模超过100亿美元，年增长率为6.8%。英国在这一市场占有重要份额，并且是开发电子主动冷却设备新材料和技术的领导者之一。该项目将提供科学理解和技术发展，支持设计和制造一类有前途的多孔金属，这些金属目前正在工业上开发用于热管理应用。这项研究将确保英国在这个利基领域保持领先地位。这项研究也将有利于环境和能源应用的非热多孔产品的研究和开发，例如吸音器，多孔电极和催化剂支架，其中流动阻力具有决定性影响。

Thermal management has become a critical issue in electronics because of increasing volumetric power densities and the harsh environments in which they are deployed. Active cooling is often required for high rates of heat dissipation because conventional passive cooling techniques are inadequate. Porous metal has been demonstrated to be highly efficient and cost effective in heat dissipation by forced fluid cooling. A main problem impeding its wider application is the high pumping power required to move the working fluid through the cooling device due to its large resistance to fluid flow.This project sets out to address the scientific and technical issues in thermal applications of porous metals manufactured by the space holder methods, which have distinctive porous structure and unique heat transfer behaviour. The aims of the research are to understand the mechanistic relationships between flow resistance, heat transfer and pore structure and to develop technologies to create tailored porous metal structures for significantly enhanced heat transfer performance with minimised flow resistance. A combination of manufacturing, properties characterisation, modelling and process development will be carried out to identify the fundamental structural properties underpinning the thermal fluid behaviour in porous metals, to quantify their effects on heat transfer coefficient and fluid flow resistance, and to design and create heterogeneous porous structures for a step change in overall active cooling performance. The global market for thermal management products is more than $10 billion with an annual growth rate of 6.8%. UK has a significant share in this market and is one of the leaders in developing new materials and technologies for active cooling devices for electronics. This project will provide scientific understanding and technical development underpinning the design and manufacture of a promising class of porous metals that are currently being developed by industry for thermal management applications. This research will ensure that UK maintains the leading position in this niche field. This research will also benefit the research and development of non-thermal porous products for environmental and energy applications, e.g., sound absorbers, porous electrodes and catalyst supports, where flow resistance has a deterministic effect.