Two-Phase Impingement Cooling Using NOVEC-649 with Copper-Inverse-Opal Wick and 3D Printed Microchannel Manifold

A novel two-phase jet impingement cooling strategy integrating large-area copper-inverse-opal (CIO) wicks with a 3D-printed microchannel manifold using Novec-649 coolant is presented. The design maximizes critical heat flux (CHF) and minimizes surface superheat through controlled coolant distribution and efficient vapor venting. Three prototype configurations with varying wick thicknesses and vent heights are tested on a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2.5\ \text{cm}\times 1.5 \text{cm}$</tex> heated area, achieving a maximum CHF of ~140 W/ cm<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at ~35 K superheat with coolant flow rate of 2.5 L/min. This approach demonstrates effective thermal management capability, offering a promising solution to high-power electronics cooling.