Experimental Investigation of a Compact Lid-Compatible Multijet Impingement Manifold for Direct-On-Chip Cooling

Multijet impingement-based cooling manifolds, functioning as integrated networks for liquid delivery and effusion, have become increasingly important due to the rising thermal management demands of high-performance computing chips. As these chips generate significant thermal load during operation, efficient cooling solutions are essential to maintain performance and prevent thermal-related reliability issues. This study focuses on the conceptual design and assessment of an innovative manifold, with an emphasis on its thermal and hydraulic performance. A 3-D-printed serpentine manifold with distributed inlets and outlets is considered, where hot and cold liquids are separated by partition walls, resulting in a compact and lid-compatible design. The manifold is designed to cool a heated area of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10\times 10$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm, with the heat flux reaching up to approximately 415 W/cm2. To assess the performance, steady-state temperature and pressure drop across the manifold are experimentally studied under different coolant flow rates and heat fluxes. The thermohydrodynamic performance of the cooler is compared with existing similar designs in the literature, focusing on single-phase coolant operation. Additionally, the study extends the analysis to include two-phase operation, exploring the effectiveness of the manifold. This innovative, compact manifold design has the great potential to act as an integrated heat spreader, offering a promising cooling solution for high heat flux applications while maintaining heat transfer efficiency.