Microchannel heat sink

A heat sink for transferring heat from a heat source to a coolant fluid comprising;

• a housing including a lid and a base,
• said base being a flat cold plate having a top surface and a bottom surface and parallel micro-channels all extending the same distance and each having a base-width and a base-height into said top surface of said base,
• a manifold plate having a top face and a bottom face to define a manifold-thickness with said bottom face overlying said micro-channels and having spaced edges extending between opposite ends,
• said lid having a periphery engaging said base and a interior shoulder engaging said ends of said manifold plate to define a recessed surface within said periphery and in engagement with said top face of said manifold plate,
• said edges of said manifold plate defining an inlet edge and an outlet edge each spaced from said shoulder to define an inlet plenum between said inlet edge and said shoulder and an outlet plenum between said outlet edge and said shoulder,
• an inlet conduit in said lid for fluid flow into said inlet plenum,
• an outlet conduit in said lid for fluid flow out of said outlet plenum,
• said manifold plate presenting inlet manifold channels extending into said inlet edge and outlet manifold channels extending into said outlet edge with each manifold channel terminating in spaced relationship to the opposite edge,
• said inlet manifold channels alternating with said outlet manifold channels to define a wall-thickness therebetween so that manifold channels from said inlet edge are interleaved with manifold channels from said outlet edge with said manifold channels having a manifold-width and a manifold-height equal to said manifold-thickness,
• said lid and said base being circular and including ears extending radially for mating engagement and defining bolt holes for sealing said lid to said base with said manifold sandwiched therebetween,
• a heat source having a heat presenting area in contact with said bottom surface of said base,
• said manifold channels extending transversely across said micro-channels in said base whereby coolant flows from said inlet conduit and into said inlet plenum and into said inlet manifold channels where the flow is forced downward into said micro-channels where the coolant is re-directed up into said outlet manifold channels and out into said outlet plenum for exit out of said outlet conduit to convey heat from a heat source engaging the exterior of said base,
• said a base-width of said micro-channels being in the range of forty (40) microns to one hundred (100) microns,
• said base-height into said base of said micro-channels being in the range of two hundred (200) microns to four hundred (400) microns,
• said manifold-height through said manifold-thickness of said manifold channels being in the range of one thousand (1000) microns to three thousand (3000) microns, and
• said manifold-width of said manifold channels in the range of three hundred and fifty (350) microns to one thousand (1000) microns,
• said wall-thickness being fifty (50) microns, and
• said heat presenting area of said heat source having a ratio to the active heat transfer area of the bottom surface of the base covered by the micro-channels between seven tenths, and one.

A method of transferring heat from a heat source to a coolant fluid comprising the steps of;

• flowing coolant into inlet manifold channels extending into a inlet edge of a manifold where the flow is forced downward into parallel and spaced micro-channels extending across the manifold channels and re-directing the coolant up into and out of outlet manifold channels extending into an outlet edge of the manifold and interleaved with the inlet manifold channels, maintaining a base-width of the micro-channels in the range of forty (40) microns to one hundred (100) microns,
• maintaining a base-height of the micro-channels in the range of two hundred (200) microns to four hundred (400) microns,
• maintaining a manifold-height through of the manifold channels in the range of one thousand (1000) microns to three thousand (3000) microns, and
• maintaining a manifold-width of the manifold channels in the range of three hundred and fifty (350) microns to one thousand (1000) microns.