Enhanced performance of a thermal ground plane utilizing an Inorganic Aqueous Solution

In this paper, two TGPs with monoporous sintered wick structures fabricated from spherical copper particles, are studied. The TGPs used in this study are 3" by 5" troughs, 4.8mm in depth, made of copper. On the back side of the trough, a 1cm² raised section, referred to as pedestal, is used as a heater interface; pedestal is subjected to heat fluxes from 50 to 250 W/cm² and the data is recorded when steady state is achieved at each heat flux. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of working fluid on two TGPs with different monoporous wick structures. The result of the comparison between TGPs charged with water and with IAS has shown a remarkable improvement in performance of IAS charged TGPs, relative to water, when used in the same device. The use of IAS enables one to significantly improve thermal performance and broaden the operating temperature range in vapor chambers.