A Passive and Remote Heat Transfer Solution for Avionics Thermal Management

A heat pipe utilizes liquid–vapor phase change mechanism to efficiently transfer heat. Among different heat pipes, loop heat pipe (LHP) and pulsating heat pipe (PHP) are known to be capable of high heat flux/high load heat transfer. In this article, LHP and PHP heat transfer systems are combined to achieve passive, reliable, and remote/long-distance heat transfer for thermal management of modern avionics systems. Aiming at this goal, a 2 m long LHP is developed to transport heat from the avionics chassis to the remote heat rejection site. To reduce inner saturation pressure and ensure structural safety at high operating temperature, water is used as the operating fluid in LHP. Within the avionics chassis, conduction heat transfer is enhanced by sandwiching a PHP with two printed circuit boards (PCBs) and solder-bonding them. Each PHP/PCB assembly is 20 cm long and 12.5 cm wide, with electrical heaters mounted on both sides to mimic electronic heat dissipation. Heat transfer demonstration of the LHP and PHP combo system is conducted in a lab environment with input power varying from 100 to 400 W. For all the three PHP/PCB assemblies set in the avionic chassis, heat source temperature is maintained below the required 150 °C even when heat dissipation is twice as high as the state-of-the-art (and coolant temperature is 50 °C). This combo heat transfer system reduces power consumption and increases reliability, enabling the avionic system operation in harsh environments.