Investigation of Liquid Cooling Plate for Server CPUs Based on Topology Optimization

In this study, a microchannel liquid cooling plate (LCP) is proposed for Intel Xeon 52.5 mm * 45 mm packaged architecture processors based on topology optimization (TO). Firstly, a mathematical model for topology optimization design of the LCP is established based on heat dissipation and pressure drop objectives. We obtain a series of two-dimensional (2D) topology optimization configurations with different weighting factors for two objectives. It is found that the biomimetic phenomenon of the topologically optimized flow channel structure is more pronounced at low Reynolds numbers. Secondly, the topology configuration is stretched into a three-dimensional (3D) model to perform CFD simulations under actual operating conditions. The results show that the thermal resistance and pressure drop of the LCP based on topology optimization achieve a reduction of approximately 20% - 50% compared to traditional serpentine and microchannel straight flow channel structures. The Nusselt number can be improved by up to 76.1% compared to microchannel straight designs. Moreover, it is observed that under high flow rates, straight microchannel LCPs exhibit significant backflow, vortex phenomena, and topology optimization structures LCPs also tend to lead to loss of effectiveness in the form of tree root-shaped branch flows. Suitable flow rate ranges for LCPs are provided. Furthermore, the temperature and pressure drop of experimental results are consistent with the numerical ones, which verifies the effectiveness of performance for topology optimization flow channel LCP.