Study on the vapor chamber with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid for HDD cooling

Abstract

The heat within the operating drive is mainly generated by the SPM, VCM, magnetic read/write head sensor, and windage loss. Temperature is often quoted as the most important environmental factor affecting disk drive reliability. The results of the investigation on the thermal cooling of vapor chamber with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid for cooling hard disk drive are presented. It was found that the vapor chamber cooling technique has a significant effect on the thermal cooling of hard disk drive. At the optimum condition (20% fill ratio of working fluid) that results in minimum HDD temperature, average HDD temperatures of VC with refrigerant R-141b as working fluid are 10.73% and 23.37% lower than those with water as working fluid and those without VC, respectively. The results of this study are of technological importance for the efficient design of cooling systems of the personal computers or electronic devices to enhance cooling performance. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.