Advances in enhanced boiling heat transfer from electronic components

This paper reviews recent advances in enhancing boiling heat transfer from electronic components immersed in dielectric liquids by use of surface microstructures. The microstructures developed include rough surfaces produced by sanding, vapor blasting hard particles, sputtering of SiO₂ followed by wet etching of the surface, chemical vapor deposition of SiO₂ film etc., laser-drilled cavities, a brush-like structure (dendritic structure), reentrant and micro-reentrant cavities, microfins, and porous structures fabricated by alumina particle spraying and painting of silver flakes, diamond particles, aluminum particles and copper particles. Heat sink studs with drilled holes, microfins, multi-layered micro-channels and pores, and pin fins with and without microporous coating have also been developed. The height of microstructure ranges from 0 to 12 mm. The primary issues discussed are the mitigation of temperature overshoot at boiling incipience, enhancement of nucleate boiling heat transfer and increasing the critical heat flux.