Cooling potential of galinstan-based minichannel heat sinks

Galinstan, a gallium, indium and tin eutectic, may be exploited for enhanced cooling of microelectronics due to its unique thermophysical properties. However, a critical evaluation of the cooling potential of galinstan has not been undertaken. Provided here is a first-order optimization model to minimize the total thermal resistance of galinstan-based heat sinks under constraints on form factor and pressure drop. The geometry considered is a minichannel heat sink that includes millimeter-scale rectangular channels to provide surface area enhancement. Calculations, which take into account both caloric and conduction/convection thermal resistances, suggest that galinstan is a better coolant than water in such configurations, reducing thermal resistance by about 30%.

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