Smart Thermal Management of High-Power Microprocessors Using Phase-Change
Developments in modern high-speed microprocessors enhance communication,
computing and electronics, thereby playing a profound role in our
societies and industries. Sustaining long-term high speeds and reliable
operation requires efficient heat dissipation. Phase-change based
cooling offers a promising alternative to conventional air-cooling in
both earth and space environments.
We will build on our previous FP7 IRSES THERMAPOWER project which led to
major advancements in the fundamental understanding of phase change
phenomena. As a result of this early work one researcher won an
international prize and secured a fellowship at MIT following the
discovery of azimuthal currents in evaporating drops. We aim to achieve
this through the expansion of our network, building new collaborations
of top researchers from 15 world-class universities from EU, Asia,
Africa, North America and South America, and 3 European SMEs with
expertise in precision experiments, micro- fabrication, theoretical
modelling, numerical simulation and engineering design. This
collaboration will enable knowledge transfer and access to unique
facilities at NASA, Intel, Brazilian Furnas, Hitachi, IBM, Indian TIFR,
Toronto SIE Lab, Tianjin Key Lab and Pretoria Thermofluid Lab, training
43 early stage researchers in latest experimental and modelling
techniques. The research programme planned addresses key questions in
complexities of scale hitherto unstudied, including contact line
interactions amongst evaporating bubbles or droplet populations on
patterned substrates. The expertise will be transferred through the
planned secondments and exposure of all secondees to different research
environments. Besides regular meetings and technical workshops, we will
hold training schools at Maryland, Kyushu, Toronto, Warsaw and
Edinburgh. This will consolidate the EU’s position at the forefront of
cutting-edge research in this area and will promote a long lasting
collaboration between Academia and Industry.