Cooling Electronics: Heat Flow in Complex Porous Channels

What is it about?

Our research explores forced convection—pumping fluid to move heat—through a specialized channel filled with a bi-disperse porous medium (BDPM). A BDPM is a material containing two distinct pore sizes, structured much like clusters of small particles that are separated by larger macro-pores. We developed a comprehensive model tracking two velocities and two temperatures to account for the distinct fluid behaviors in the macro-pores and micro-pores. We analyzed a "conjugate problem," meaning our equations actively coupled the fluid convection with the heat conduction occurring in the solid slabs bounding the channel. Using mathematical separation of variables, we calculated exactly how heat moves from a constant-temperature outside environment, through the solid walls, and into the porous structure.

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Photo by Spring Fed Images on Unsplash

Photo by Spring Fed Images on Unsplash

Why is it important?

With the rapid miniaturization of modern technology, cooling electronic equipment is a severe and immediate engineering challenge. Hyperporous media, particularly the bi-disperse structures we analyzed, represent the next frontier in advanced thermal management solutions. What makes our work in reprint30.pdf timely and unique is the inclusion of the bounding solid walls. We discovered that the finite thermal resistance of these solid boundary slabs actually reduces the overall heat transfer to the porous medium. Furthermore, it reduces the local thermal non-equilibrium between the different internal phases. Engineers must account for these wall effects to accurately predict and design real-world cooling systems.

Perspectives