Park Attracts NSF Grant for Heat Reduction Research in Electronics
JONESBORO – An assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Arkansas State University is pursuing research with NASA’s Johnson Space Center into how to more effectively reduce heat build-up in electronic systems.
The grant proposal from Dr. Jeongmoon (Josh) Park was approved by the National Science Foundation’s RII Track-4: Fellows Advancing Science and Technology (FAST) program for $174,864.
Before joining the College of Engineering and Computer Science faculty in 2021, Park earned his Ph.D. at Texas A&M, his master’s at Purdue, and bachelor’s at the Korea Aerospace University.
He noted the rapid development of technology has resulted in higher performance and smaller size in electronics. However, with increased circuit density and faster operating frequency, more heat is dissipated and needs to be removed.
Success of this project will lead to thermal performance enhancement of cold plates, thereby reducing equipment size and weight, and saving energy.
“Traditional heat removal systems employing a heat sink and fan often become insufficient for modern electronics to maintain within the operating temperature,” he explained in his grant proposal. “Therefore, this research is driven by the need to develop an advanced thermal management system to remove the dissipated heat sufficiently and maintain the electronics below the operating temperature, for better performance and higher reliability.”
In collaboration with the NASA Johnson Space Center, he will design and develop an advanced cold plate heat exchanger that can remove heat more efficiently and effectively by using vortex generators, an aerodynamic element, especially for electronics in manned spacecraft.
Cold plates have liquid coolant flow passages bounded by metallic walls. The use of vortex generators in the flow passages has great potential to enhance heat transfer, Park continued.
“When better liquid cooling in cold plates is achieved, it can lead to significant energy savings as well as reduced equipment size and weight. Eventually, this research can support the design, development, and implementation of the next generation of thermal management systems for electronics in spacecraft applications.”
