Coolboard project (completed)

More than half (55 percent) of electronic component failures today are caused by overheating alone. In view of constantly increasing power densities in electronics, previous heat dissipation solutions have reached their limits, take up too much space or lack efficiency. Pulsating heat pipes (PHP) are a possible alternative. They reduce the temperature rise of thermally stressed components very effectively. PHP operate passively, are inexpensive, lightweight, compact and easy to integrate.

In the Coolboard project, several designs of PHPs with various dimensions were assembled and tested. PHP with dimensions of 100 x 50 mm² and thicknesses of only 2-2.5 mm, featuring high channel density, achieved the best results. These PHP show excellent thermal properties (also when compared to other PHP referred to in literature) and a thermal resistance of up to 90 percent lower than that of a solid copper plate with the same dimensions. Accordingly, the temperature of a component with the same waste heat output when cooled by a PHP remains at a significantly lower level. For example, in one of the tests, the temperature of the component was reduced from 170 °C to 60 °C when the component was mounted on a PHP instead of a copper plate. The excellent heat transfer capability of the PHP has been demonstrated for various typical parameters, i.e., horizontal and vertical orientation, water and air cooling as heat sinks, size of the heat source, etc..

Project partners

• Fraunhofer-Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM (coordination)
• Fraunhofer-Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM

Project term

01.01.2017 – 30.06.2019

Project funding

Fraunhofer-internal funding, SME-oriented in-house research project (MEF)