Multiscale thermal management of electronic components and enclosures

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Electronic components are today found in nearly every advanced engineering system. Thermal management of these electronics is becoming one of the most challenging issues in advanced systems engineering and an important subject in regard to overall systems performance. To complicate matter, these electronic systems vary in size from the millimeter for transistor packages to the ten of meter for independent, integrated electronics shelters. As a result of the multitude of scales, no "one size fits all" solution can be applied to solve this important issue; independent, system specific solutions must be researched and engineered. The objective of this four year research program is to develop thermal management solutions at various scales of electronic systems used by the industrial partner, and develop associated systems required for this thermal management, i.e., liquid cooling systems and pumps. The research will be performed at the applicant's Lab of Applied Multiphase Thermal Engineering (LAMTE) at Dalhousie University. Five high priority research projects were selected: i. Ruggedized Tesla Pump for Liquid Cooling in Adverse Conditions; ii. Gallium Nitride (GaN) Transistor Cooling Improvement Strategies; iii. Innovative Liquid Cooling Method of Enclosed Electronic Power Systems; iv. Thermal and Energy Management of Large Scale Electronic Shelters; v. Effects of Contact Surface Characteristics on Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) Performance. In order to perform the research associated with these projects, and provide innovative solutions for the related thermal management issues, a combination of experimental, numerical and analytical work will be needed and performed. This proposed research will benefit both the industrial partner and the Canadian electronics industry by providing critical knowledge, methods and designs for increase thermal management of power electronics at various scale.