Mathematical Approaches for Thermal Design of a Vapor Chamber

This paper presents three mathematical models (Model 1, Model 2-a, Model 2-b) for the thermal design of the vapor chamber. Model 1 is a detailed model, where the equations of continuity, momentum and energy are solved numerically to obtain the velocity, pressure and temperature distributions inside the vapor chamber. Model 2-a and Model 2-b are simplified conduction-based models for the purpose of obtaining the temperature distribution inside the vapor chamber in a shorter time and a lower cost by Microsoft Excel. Model 2-a is a disk-shaped two-dimensional model and the numerical calculation is conducted using one worksheet of Excel. Model 2-b, on the other hand, is constructed in a three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system and Excel VBA Macro is used to obtain the numerical results. The numerical results of Model 2-a and Model 2-b are compared with those of Model 1 and the authors’ previous experimental results, confirming the validity of the present Excel simulation. The mathematical approach with Excel is visual, handy and cost-effective for the thermal design of the vapor chamber.