Both experimental and theoretical investigations on the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics of compact cold plates have been performed. From the results, the local and average temperature rises on the cold plate surface increase with increasing chip heat flux or decreasing air mass flow rate. Besides, the effect of chip heat flux on the thermal resistance of cold plate is insignificant; while the thermal resistance of cold plate decreases with increasing air mass flow rate. Three empirical correlations of thermal resistance in terms of air mass flow rate with a power of $−0.228$ are presented. As for average Nusselt number, the effect of chip heat flux on the average Nusselt number is insignificant; while the average Nusselt number of the cold plate increases with increasing Reynolds number. An empirical relationship between $Nu¯cp$ and Re can be correlated. In the flow frictional aspect, the overall pressure drop of the cold plate increases with increasing air mass flow rate; while it is insignificantly affected by chip heat flux. An empirical correlation of the overall pressure drop in terms of air mass flow rate with a power of 1.265 is presented. Finally, both heat transfer performance factor $“j”$ and pumping power factor $“f”$ decrease with increasing Reynolds number in a power of 0.805; while they are independent of chip heat flux. The Colburn analogy can be adequately employed in the study.

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