Overview
- Researchers at the University of Illinois published the study Thursday in Cell Reports Physical Science, detailing a pure-copper cold plate that beat conventional designs.
- In lab comparisons, the optimized plate removed up to 32% more heat and lowered fluid pressure drop by up to 68% versus standard rectangular fins.
- The team used topology optimization to evolve simple fins into tree-like shapes, then worked with Fabric8Labs to 3D print the parts in copper using ECAM at roughly 30–50 micrometers resolution.
- A cold plate is a metal block with internal fins that sits on a chip and routes liquid coolant, and the authors estimate their design could cut a 1 gigawatt data center’s cooling load to about 11 megawatts pending real-world validation.
- The next step is testing on actual processors and seeking hyperscale cloud partners, as air cooling falls short and projections warn data centers could take up to 12% of the U.S. grid by 2028.