Diseño de banco de pruebas para disipadores de calor de enfriamiento líquido con conducción inversa

Abstract

The continuous increases in transistor density in modern processors has led to higher heat generation and more demanding thermal management requirements. Liquid-cooled heat sinks offer a solution; however, their experimental evaluation requires controlled heat flux conditions. Direct heat flux sensors are often and can disturb the flow. This work presents the design and experimental validation of a test bench for thermal performance characterization of liquid-cooled heat sinks without the use of commercial processors or intrusive sensors. Numerical simulation was first used to optimize the heat sink design and to guide the development of the experimental setup. The test bench enables controlled heat input while preserving an undisturbed flow field. Surface heat flux is estimated using an inverse heat conduction methodology applied to internal temperature measurements acquired through a data acquisition system. The experimental setup employs a 250 W electrical cartridge heater inserted into a copper block to replicate the thermal footprint an AMD TR4 processor. Experimental results are compared with numerical predictions and a one-dimensional theoretical heat conduction model. The measured heat flux deviates from the simulated and theoretical values by less than 1%, confirming the accuracy and reliability of the proposed test bench for liquid-cooled heat sink evaluation. Keywords: Heat Transfer, Thermal Numerical Simulation, Thermal Management, Thermal Performance Measurement