Case Study For A Liquid Cold Plate Thermal Design

To use professional thermal analysis software to design a liquid cold plate schemes for customers, then confirm the feasibility of the theory with engineers, and then start to make samples for testing.Share successful design experiences with us for research and learning.Of course, these cases are some of our own project research, and the final design solution is owned by the customers.

Why we Should Do A Thermal Design For A Liquid Cold Plate

For the simulation analysis of liquid cooling plates, we usually focus on their production process and materials. Due to the different thermal conductivity of the materials, the heat distribution of the heat source is also different. Similarly, the production process determines the flow channel design of the liquid cooling plate. If it is a brazing process, its flow channel can be arbitrarily designed. For the flow channel of the profile process, it can only be a horizontal parallel flow channel, For IGBT heat sources with high power density, it is necessary to use the shovel fin process to perform local refinement and exchange heat flow over a larger area.

Of course, for coolant, it can be 100% pure water or 50% alcohol and 50% pure water. So, when conducting thermal analysis, for these uncertain parameters, we can replace them with different parameters for simulation analysis, and obtain a theoretical data that lays the foundation for our engineers’ subsequent design.Engineers can conduct cost analysis and comparison based on these data, while electronic engineers can optimize the layout of electronic components based on heat distribution maps. Structural engineers can optimize equipment space, etc. Therefore, the process of thermal analysis is a very important preliminary development process.

● Our thermal design engineers will use Ansys Icepak software to design liquid cold plate solutions for customers, to realize the initial theoretical feasibility, and then move to the actual sample production, which will save the cost and development cycle for customers.

● Usually, the difference between simulated data and actual test data is around 2-3 degrees.

● It can be seen that the local and overall temperature distribution.

● It takes 2-3 days to complete the thermal design for a liquid cold plate.

● It can display the flow resistance data value of the coolant and the flow rate of coolant

● The version we are using is Ansys 22.0.

Design A Liquid Cold Plate With The Parameters We Need

● The size requirements or space size of the liquid cooling plate.

● The power, size, and position of the heat source on the liquid cooling plate.

● What is the temperature of the coolant, that is, the temperature of the water inlet.

● The component of the coolant is the proportion of pure water or alcohol.

● What is the flow rate of coolant entering the liquid cooling plate in liters per minute.

● In theory, the production process required also determines the inlet and outlet positions of the coolant.