An Experimental Study of a Multi-Device Jet Impingement Cooler With Phase Change Using HFE-7100

Jet impingement cooling with phase change has shown the potential to meet the increased cooling capacity demands of high-power-density (of order 100 W/cm²) automotive electronics components. In addition to improved heat transfer, phase change cooling has the potential benefit of providing a relatively isothermal cooling surface. In the present study, two-phase jet impingement cooling of multiple electronic devices is investigated, where the fluorinated dielectric fluid HFE-7100 is used as the working fluid. Four different types of jet arrays, namely, a single round jet with orifice diameter of 3.75 mm, and three different 5 × 5 arrays of round jets with orifice diameters of 0.5 mm, 0.6 mm and 0.75 mm, were tested and compared for both heat transfer and pressure drop. The experimental Reynolds number at the orifice ranged from 1860 to 9300. The results show that for the same orifice pressure drop, the single jet reached CHF at approximately 60 W/cm², while the 5 × 5 array (d = 0.75 mm) safely reached heat fluxes exceeding 65 W/cm² without reaching CHF. Additionally, the experimental results show that the multi-device cooler design causes an unintended rise in pressure inside the test section and a subsequent increase in sub-cooling from 10 K to 23.3 K.