Executive Summary : | Mobile computing devices, such as smartphones and laptops, have revolutionized various aspects of human life, including online banking, education, and entertainment. However, high heat dissipation and thermal hotspots pose a significant thermal management challenge. Vapor chambers, which transfer heat through fluid phase changes, are a promising approach to address this issue. These chambers consist of an evaporator and condenser surface separated by a small distance, and the resulting vapors are condensed on the condenser surface, cooled by a heat sink. However, traditional wickless vapor chambers have limitations, as they can be flooded at high heat flux. This project aims to develop vapor chambers with novel evaporator and condenser surfaces to overcome these limitations. The project will focus on developing surface textures for enhanced thin-film evaporation and dropwise condensation of the evaporated working fluid with delayed texture flooding at high heat fluxes. The surface development will aim to achieve high effective thermal conductivity and explore thermal diodicity, which allows for high heat flux transfer in one direction and minimal heat transfer in the reverse direction. The project will involve designing optimal surface textures for thin-film evaporation and condensation, fabricating the designed textures, developing the vapor chamber using the fabricated surfaces, and developing experimental setups and investigating the overall thermal performance of the vapor chamber. The project results will contribute to understanding the interaction between surface properties and phase change processes, opening new directions for efficient thermal management. |