Two Phase Thermal Solution Guide
QUICK & EASY REFERENCE TO TWO PHASE THERMAL SOLUTIONS
2
Two-Phase Reference Guide
www.boydcorp.com
November 2021
INTRODUCTION
As electronic designs demand more power, functionality, speed, and reliability, heat remains one of the major
barriers to maximize performance and realize major innovations. Every industry, especially Mobile, Medical,
Telecommunications, and IoT, is developing new applications that are lightweight, multi-functional, and high
power with increasing reliability standards. Engineers struggle to effectively handle excess heat as consumers
demand smaller, thinner, more powerful devices with more options and capabilities.
Two phase cooling is rapidly gaining popularity to solve
these issues. These technologies are especially ideal to
spread heat for faster dissipation, reduce weight, increase
reliability, and extend device lifetime, but their most
significant advantage is design flexibility and how easy and
efficiently they integrate in a system or device to vastly
improve cooling efficiency and capacity. Active air cooling
or liquid cooling systems are often too large, cumbersome,
and come with inherent complications such as unwanted
sound, heavy weight, and vibration. Two phase can replace
active cooling components and systems, not only solving
thermal challenges but also acoustic and vibration issues
for enhanced reliability.
While many engineers are most familiar with heat pipes, two phase cooling in a linear and very flexible form
factor, there are several major two phase technology types that
manage more heat and feature unique benefits and features. Vapor
chambers transfer heat in a planar geometry allowing for more
uniform heat spreading. Thermosiphons do not use a wicking
structure and can move more power by using gravity to return the
fluid. Meanwhile, Immersion Cooling is gaining popularity in cooling
high power components in markets such as data centers.
The following guide will touch on each of these technologies as well
as the benefits and considerations when utilizing them to cool your
applications.
Multi-technology Heat Pipe Assemble