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Heat-driven liquid metal cooling device for the thermal management of a computer chip

Kun-Quan Ma and Jing Liu1

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The tremendous heat generated in a computer chip or very large scale integrated circuit raises many challenging issues to be solved. Recently, liquid metal with a low melting point was established as the most conductive coolant for efficiently cooling the computer chip. Here, by making full use of the double merits of the liquid metal, i.e. superior heat transfer performance and electromagnetically drivable ability, we demonstrate for the first time the liquid-cooling concept for the thermal management of a computer chip using waste heat to power the thermoelectric generator (TEG) and thus the flow of the liquid metal. Such a device consumes no external net energy, which warrants it a self-supporting and completely silent liquid-cooling module. Experiments on devices driven by one or two stage TEGs indicate that a dramatic temperature drop on the simulating chip has been realized without the aid of any fans. The higher the heat load, the larger will be the temperature decrease caused by the cooling device. Further, the two TEGs will generate a larger current if a copper plate is sandwiched between them to enhance heat dissipation there. This new method is expected to be significant in future thermal management of a desk or notebook computer, where both efficient cooling and extremely low energy consumption are of major concern.


PACS

07.20.Mc Cryogenics; refrigerators, low-temperature equipment

84.60.Rb Thermoelectric, electrogasdynamic and other direct energy conversion

Subjects

Electronics and devices

Instrumentation and measurement

Dates

Issue 15 (7 August 2007)

Received 19 March 2007, in final form 22 May 2007

Published 20 July 2007



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