Development of Plate Heat Pipes for the Thermal Management of Power Electronics

Plate heat pipes, 4.0mm × 40mm × 375mm, of maximum heat transfer capability, Q_max, of the order of hundred W have been developed for the thermal management in power electronic devices such as IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor), MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor), et al. The thermal performance in both horizontal and vertical orientations were experimentally evaluated, and outstanding thermal performance of Q_max up to 600W in the vertical orientation and thermal resistance as low as 0.01K/W were confirmed. In addition to the heat pipes, thermosyphons of the same dimensions as the plate heat pipes were also fabricated and tested as a comparison. The plate heat pipes were then applied to the thermal management systems for a CPU in a 1-U server and for SiC power JFET, and stable and satisfactory cooling performance of the heat pipes for the electronics devices was demonstrated.