Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) have found that graphene-based heat pipes can help solve problems related to the cooling of electronics and power systems used in avionics, data centers, and beyond.
The pipes are made of graphene assembled films with high thermal conductivity, along with carbon-fiber, wicker-enhanced inner surfaces. The researchers tested pipes of 6 mm in outer diameter and 150 mm in length and found great advantages for cooling, especially where low weight and high corrosion resistance are required.
“Heat pipes are one of the most efficient tools for this purpose, because of their high efficiency and unique ability to transfer heat over a large distance,” says Johan Liu, a professor of electronics production. The results, which also involved researchers in China and Italy, were published in the open access journal Nano Select.
Currently, heat pipes are usually made of copper, aluminum, or their alloys, according to the researchers. Due to the relatively high density and limited heat transmission capacity of these materials, they say these heat pipes are facing severe challenges. For example, large data centers that deliver digital banking services and video streaming websites are very energy-intensive, and an environmental culprit with greater emissions than the aviation industry. As a result, the researchers say that reducing the climate footprint of this industry is vital.
To address this need, the graphene enhanced heat pipe exhibits a specific thermal transfer coefficient that is about 3.5 times better than that of copper-based heat pipe. The new findings pave the way for using these pipes in lightweight and large capacity cooling applications. “The condenser section, the cold part of the graphene enhanced heat pipe, can be substituted by a heat sink or a fan to make the cooling even more efficient when applied in a real case,” explains Chalmers doctoral student Ya Liu.
Source: Chalmers University of Technology, www.chalmers.se.