Experimental indirect cooling performance analysis of the metal 3D-printed cold plates with two different supporting elements

Abstract

This study experimentally investigates the cooling time and performance of two new cold plate designs manufactured via selective laser melting process using body-centred cubic (BCC) and pillar elements. The plates are cooled down from the initial surface temperature of 45 °C to the target surface temperature of 32.5 °C under tropical conditions at three different volume flow rates and two different inlet water temperatures. The minimum cooling time is found at 30 s and 63 s at the highest volume flow rate and the lowest inlet water temperature for the pillar- and BCC-filled plates, respectively. The greatest plate and system COP values are 1195.1 and 6.8 for the BCC-filled plate and 1192.0 and 6.2 for the pillar-filled plate, respectively, at the minimum flow rate and the inlet water temperature. The performance evaluation criterion range is 1.25 to 1.28 and 2.12 to 2.52 for the BCC- and pillar-filled plates, respectively. The heat transfer coefficient dramatically increases by rising the volume flow rate at the low inlet water temperature case but the increasing trends become slighter at the high inlet water temperature case. Tropical climate results in high dew point temperatures, therefore, cooling with high inlet water temperature is found ineffective.