Operating New Heat Sink Experimental Facility

Author: Stephen Pierson | Major: Mechanical Engineering | Semester: Fall 2022

My name is Stephen Pierson, and I am majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Back in the fall of 2021, I met my current mentor, Dr. Han Hu, and toured the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Nano Energy and Data-Driven Discovery (NED³) Laboratory where I would go on to be a research assistant beginning in the summer. This semester I presented at an engineering education conference in Tulsa, had another paper pertaining to my research this Fall accepted by the American Society of Thermal Fluids Engineers (ASTFE), and made great progress towards my plans for my honors thesis. I plan to present my first set of experimental results in March next year at the 8^th international ASTFE conference, present another paper about manufacturing education to ASEE 2023 in June, and complete my honors thesis in the spring.

Funded by the Honors College Research Grant and beginning this summer, I set out to research the possibility of using alternative manufacturing techniques to enhance the performance of liquid-cooled microchannel heat sinks (MCHS). MCHS systems are commonly used to provide high-performance cooling to electronics like microchips, industrial transistor boards, and fuel cells, so improving the efficiency of MCHS devices is important in removing barriers to more advanced electronics which is the motivation behind my research. Real-life applications include using enhanced MCHS systems to enable miniaturized computer systems that would otherwise overheat and extend the lifetime of hydrogen fuel cells. Next semester I plan to expand on my work by incorporating dielectric refrigerant and a process called flow boiling to test how new miniaturized heat sink designs perform in higher modes of heat transfer.

I chose to do my research project on the topic of advanced electronics cooling technology because of challenges of creating major improvements in flow boiling heat flux capacity, the physics of which is still not fully understood by the engineering community, and the direct real-world impact innovations in this area can have on a wide range of devices seen in use every day. Some of the challenges I faced included technical ones like developing a data collection process for a new experimental facility that needed to be fast, statistically reliable, and make it easy to analyze data. I had to come up with a temporary system to get results out in time to meet the submission deadline for the conference I wanted to attend, but now one of the things I’m currently working on is developing an improved system for a better workflow of taking and analyzing larger sets of data. My mentor played a hands-off role in my project, and I worked independently which I’m grateful for since I had the autonomy to approach the project goals as I saw fit. The only times I had help from other students was when I needed advice on how to get unstuck on a circuitry problem.

Working on a long-term independent research project has helped me take big steps towards my academic goals in a short amount of time. I’ve become proficient in the process of academic research, established a great relationship with a mentor and group of lab mates who have similar research interests, and fostered an interest that’s accelerated my career path. As I continue working the laboratory next semester, I’ll have the opportunity to present at two more conferences and expand on my research of microchannel heat sinks and two-phase heat transfer which is incredibly exciting. Being awarded a SURF grant for the coming year was big accomplishment for me, and I have the long-term goal of producing a journal paper based on the headway I plan to make in 2023.