Scaling Analysis of Performance Trade-Offs in Electronics Cooling

Using the governing equations for internal fluid flow and heat transfer, scaling laws are developed to predict how the selection of a liquid or gas coolant and geometry affects the pumping power and volume requirements of heat sinks in electronics cooling applications. One of the principal outcomes of the presented scaling analysis is derivation, based on first principles, of new figure-of-merit parameters that can be used to evaluate cooling performance and guide efforts on development of new cooling fluids. The new figures-of-merits are critically compared to existing performance metrics and experimental data from the literature to emphasize the relevance and accuracy of developed scaling laws.