Mini vapour cycle system for high density electronic cooling applications

This paper reports the preliminary experimental results of a mini Vapour Cycle System (VCS) for electronic thermal management applications. The water cooled miniature scale refrigeration system uses R134a as working fluid and implements a new concept oil-free linear compressor prototype. In the range of operating test conditions investigated, the cooling capacity of the system varied from 46 to 310 W while the coefficient of performance (COP) ranged between 1.05 and 5.54. Particular attention was dedicated to the cold plate design, which had to meet the requirements established by the aeronautical standards. The cold plate was equipped with 15 thermocouples in order to analyze the wall temperatures distribution. The suitability and feasibility of the proposed cold plate for electronic thermal management in aeronautical environment is critically discussed, basing on the experimental results.