Experimental study on flow and heat-transfer characteristics of Ga-In-Sn alloy in a round tube applied for high heat flux device cooling

The heat flow of an electronic device has increased to up to 1000 W/cm², and a new coolant termed liquid metal provides a novel solution. This research suggests using a portmanteau of gallium, indium, and stannum with compositions of 68.5, 21.5, and 10 respectively, known as Ga-In-Sn alloy, as the supercooling medium to meet the growing cooling demands. The heat-transfer characteristics of Ga-In-Sn alloy at high temperatures, however, are rarely reported. Consequently, a test bench with a variety of heat fluxes is established and various experimental work is carried out. Based on the results of the experiments, the Ga-In-Sn alloy heat transfer correlation (40 < Pe < 100,300 K<T_f < 499 K) and the composite curve A-B'-C-D to depict the relationship between Nu and Pe are recommended. The comparison of liquid metal correlations reveals that, for lower Pe, fusible metals have a stronger heat transfer effect than heavy metals and a weaker effect than alkali metals. Additionally, the convection heat transfer coefficients are approximately 6.3×10⁴ W/(m²·K) and 7.15×10⁴ W/(m²·K), respectively, when the heat fluxes are 6.5 W/cm² and 30.9 W/cm², respectively. Ga-In-Sn alloy also can reduce pump power consumption, which has huge potential for cooling airborne electronic equipment, according to the study.