Cold Plate With Improved Cooling Fluid Distribution

To function efficiently, cold plates must fulfill several potentially mutually counteracting requirements: The flow rate of the cooling fluid must be high enough to provide sufficient heat capacity overall and the mixing strong enough for the heat to be absorbed through-out the fluid instead of only in segments close to the cold plate's inner surfaces. Ideally, the cooling effect should also be uniform across the plate and the pressure drop should not be too large, in order not to overstrain the driving pump.

The present invention unites these requirements by means of a targeted design featuring two different types of alternating flow channels. Along the channels, there are several connections by means of which cooling fluid is directed from each second channel to the adjacent channels of the other type (see schematic on the left). Moreover, the channels directing the cooling fluid to their neighbors also taper towards the end. This ensures a far stronger mixing of cooling fluid than parallel straight channels, at a significantly smaller pressure drop than designs fitted with pins or NACA profiles.