Cooling of high-power-density microdevices using liquid metal coolants

High electrically conducting fluids such as liquid metals offer a unique solution to the current and future cooling needs of high power density heat sources. The two principal advantages of developing single phase cooling systems based on liquid metals lie in their superior thermophysical properties and in the ability to pump these liquids efficiently with silent, nonmoving pumps. Closed loop systems based on liquid metals and liquid metal pumps enable gravity independent high performance cooling systems. Analytical and experimental work is presented showing heat transfer coefficients on the order of 10 W/cm(2)/K and miniature pumps operating at greater than 8 kPa maximum pressure rise and 1% maximum efficiency. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.