Withstands 50°C Deserts... Korea University and Hanwha Systems Develop Military Electronics Cooling Technology [Reading Science]

Heat Sink Cools Itself Without Fans or External Power

Maintains Operational Temperatures in Extreme Conditions; Expected Applications in Defense and Aerospace

A next-generation cooling technology that allows military electronic equipment to operate without overheating even in desert environments reaching 50°C has been developed by a Korean research team. The technology cools heat using only ambient air flow, without cooling fans or external power, and is expected to be applied to future defense and aerospace equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles and radar systems.

Korea University announced on the 22nd that a research team led by Professor Wonjun Choi in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has jointly developed phase change heat sink technology with Hanwha Systems. The research findings were published in the international journal Energy Conversion and Management, specializing in thermal engineering.

Photos of the prototype phase change heat sink actually produced by the research team and its detailed internal structure. (A) Overall appearance of the manufactured heat sink (B) Curved channel structure of the pulsating heat pipe (PHP) (C) Internal space and support structure of the vapor chamber (VC) (D) Microcavities and wick structure of the vapor chamber (VC). Provided by the research team

Recently, the use of high-power-dissipation components such as high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) in military electronic devices has increased, making cooling performance a key factor in equipment reliability. However, defense and aerospace fields face strict limitations on noise, vibration, and power consumption, making it difficult to adopt active cooling devices that use fans or pumps.

The research team applied a “phase change heat sink,” where a liquid repeatedly evaporates and condenses to transport heat, and compared two cooling methods. Among them, the two-dimensional vapor chamber (VC) structure demonstrated the most superior performance.

In experiments simulating military electronic equipment generating 32W of heat in a 50°C environment, a conventional aluminum heat sink saw its maximum temperature rise to 99.2°C, exceeding the operational standard of 90°C. In contrast, the vapor chamber heat sink reduced the maximum temperature to 87.4°C, meeting military operational standards, and decreased thermal resistance by 24.2% compared to the existing heat sink.

Research team photo. Kyutae Park, Master's student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea University and researcher at Hanwha Systems (first author, left), Wonjun Choi, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea University (corresponding author). Provided by Korea University

Conversely, the pulsating heat pipe (PHP) method failed to meet the temperature standard, recording a maximum of 90.8°C, and also experienced instability due to temporary stoppage of the working fluid flow. The research team explained that the vapor chamber method secured higher cooling performance and stability under extreme high-temperature conditions.

Professor Wonjun Choi of Korea University stated, “This is a passive cooling technology that enables stable operation of high-power military electronic equipment even in environments where external power supply is difficult and maintenance is limited. We expect it will contribute to performance improvements and domestic production of next-generation defense and aerospace equipment such as high-altitude UAVs and compact radar modules.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.