Liquid Cold Plates are A Natural Evolution beyond Air Cooling

Thermal's liquid cooling is a natural evolution beyond air cooling where either due to thermal or footprint requirements, the desired performance can no longer be economically met by air cooling.

Liquid can be moved under the devices via a plate with a flow route, which is the most popular means to achieve liquid cooling. The heat is transferred from the plate and into the bigger system once it has been absorbed by the liquid. While water or water/glycol are the most common fluids used in liquid cooling, gasoline, oil, and refrigerant are other fluids that can be utilized.

There are lots of ways to construct a cold plate and the methods can be driven by the level of performance needed, the materials needed or the environmental requirements.

Cross-drilled holes in a plate are one construction technique. Unneeded flow patterns are plugged in the plate where the holes intersect to determine the flow pattern. Although this method of construction can save money, the pattern is only available in straight lines.

Another method is to embed a tube in a plate by machining a groove in the plate. The tube can either be placed toward the top surface of the plate to provide better cooling to devices mounted on that surface, or it can be embedded further into the plate so that it cools devices mounted on both sides of the plate. This option provides greater flexibility, but the thermal performance is limited because of the surface area of the tube perimeter.

Machined cold plates are needed to increase performance by increasing the surface area in contact with the fluid. The cold plate is made of a plate that has been cut into a few flow passages, and a cover is then put together to catch the flow. A piece of folded fin can be used to add the increased surface area or it can be machined into place. The cover can be flat or be another machined plate. The method of assembly of the two parts can be done by gasket/screw, glue/screw, brazing, or welding and is dependent on the required performance and the requirements of the environment.

M-stirling offers a large quantity of standard liquid cold plates. Please contact us for custom design assistance.