Thermal Analysis of 300W-QCW Diode Laser with Copper Foam Heatsink

Thermal effects in diode lasers, especially quasi continuous wave (QCW) high power laser module can strongly influence their performance like optical characteristics and lifetime. Therefore the packing of laser bars requires a high cooling efficiency and long term stability. In this paper, thermal analysis of 300W QCW diode laser with liquid cooled copper foam heatsink (FHS) was numerically investigated. Three- dimensional numerical simulation, based on the navier-stoks equations and energy equation, are obtained for force convection of water in this copper foam heat sink. Computer software is used to solve the partial differential equations in diode laser package. It is found that the numerical predictions of pressure drop are good agreement with experimental data. Results show the cooling performance of foam heatsink was found to be higher than the common heatsink due to the improved thermal contact causes by the porous structure. Also the laser bar temperature decreases 4.2 % by using FHS comparison common heatsink at flow time of 10.05 ms when the laser is on.