The CERN technology consists in an Ultralight Cold Plate (UCP) for the cooling of power dissipating elements, based on micro-macro vascular pipes embedded in high thermal conductive carbon substrate.
The UCP is made of a high thermal conductivity carbon plate, embedding ultralight polyimide cooling pipes. Different carbon materials are laid-up in the plate thickness to enhance thermal performance and guarantee structure integrity. The dissipating elements that need to be cooled down are in thermal contact with the UCP through glue or thermal interface materials. The heat is transferred from the dissipating elements into the cooling pipes by the carbon substrate and is removed by the coolant flowing in the pipes. Several coolants have been used, from single phase liquid (water) to two-phase evaporative (C4F10), and different ones are being tested (CO2).
