Novel heat transfer fluids using mixture formulations for electronics thermal management

Forced convection of liquids along with phase change heat transfer will be necessary for cooling electronic devices of the future with heat fluxes in excess of 1 kW/cm². However, electrical and chemical compatibility of the liquid and electronic components pose significant constraints on the implementation of most liquid coolants. These constraints have led to the use of fluoroinerts and Novec fluids as coolants which are plagued by low thermal conductivity and specific heat. These factors necessitate the development of new heat transfer fluids with improved heat transfer properties and applicability. Mixture formulations provide an added dimension in the development of new heat transfer fluids. Heat transfer properties can be enhanced by adding certain liquids having better thermal properties, to the existing heat transfer fluids. Mixture formulations of Novec fluid (pure HFE 7200) with alcohols and ethers (HFE 7200 and methanol; HFE 7200 and ethoxybutane) are considered for this study. A 1 cm × 1 cm silicon (Si) substrate having copper nanowire arrays is used as the test surface for pool boiling and experiments are done at saturation conditions to investigate the thermal performance of these new fluid mixtures.