Analysis and feasibility of an evaporative cooling system with sessile droplet evaporation to provide cooling for microprocessors

Abstract

The study investigates the cooling requirements for the Intel Xenon Processor and the Intel Core i7-900 Processor using diffusion based evaporation of sessile droplets. An analytical model is developed to determine the capacity of a single layer of droplets to provide sufficient cooling. It is found that a single layer can provide sufficient cooling for the processors with tiny droplets. A numerical model is developed to analyze a tiered system that fits within the space restrictions corresponding to the current heat sinks with larger droplets and fewer of them. The results of the numerical modelling work found that a minimum of 41 posts connecting each of the tiers were required to cool the Xenon Processor and 42 posts for the Core i7-900 Processor. It was also found that a minimum of 3 tiers were required for the Xenon Processor, with a droplet radius of 2 mm, and 4 tiers for the Core i7.