Electro-osmotic Flow Based Cooling System For Microprocessors

An elliptical, electroosmosis device, with many micro channel flow paths has been designed to circulate liquid to cool hot spots on a microprocessor chip. A pair of electrodes deposited 3 mm apart, across the channels, was employed to impose external electric potential. A preliminary experimental setup has been fabricated to determine the flow rate and heat transfer of the micro channel device. A pulsed external electric potential signal was applied to reduce bubbles generated as a result of electrolysis. Silicon dioxide has been used as an electrical isolator to avoid current interference between the cooling device and the microprocessor. Preliminary flow rates measured were 0.04 mul min
^-1
, 0.16 mul min
^-1
, 0.24 mul min
^-1
using external potential values of 10 V, 20 V and 40 V, respectively. Temperature measurements have demonstrated that an increased rate of heat transfer is possible, if the liquid is forced to move.