Immersion liquid cooling for electronics: Materials, systems, applications and prospects

Abstract

The significant increase in the energy consumption of electronic devices has made its efficient thermal management a key breakthrough direction for energy conservation and emission reduction. Immersion cooling technology has the merits of efficient heat transport, low noise, and even thermal control, making it highly promising for the thermal management of high heat flux electronic devices. The current work systematically reviews the research progress on immersion cooling technology in electronic device thermal management, including the properties of immersion coolants, liquid-cooled structures, immersion cooling enhancement, and current engineering applications. This literature review reveals that immersion cooling technology can effectively improve the temperature control level, energy efficiency, stability, and lifespan of electronic devices. However, the high cost, safety hazards, and inherent defects of current immersion coolants restrict their large-scale application. Future research should focus on developing efficient, environmentally friendly, and low-cost alternatives and establishing a unified screening mechanism for immersion coolants. Additionally, the current immersion cooling system design focuses mainly on single/two-phase immersion cooling with relatively simple configurations, and further development is needed in the structural design optimization and inherent heat transfer enhancement mechanism of jet impingement immersion cooling. Moreover, adequate attention should be given to control strategies, safety and reliability evaluation, and long-term maintenance methods for immersion cooling systems, to further promote the commercial application of immersion cooling in electronic device thermal management.