ColdPlateTwin: Water-Cooled Testbed Design

Current stageSoftware-tested prototype with preliminary CAD. The examples are synthetic; the testbed has not been experimentally validated.

The question

How do interchangeable flow inserts affect heat removal and pressure drop under matched conditions? I’m developing the testbed and analysis workflow to make those comparisons, including whether the energy balance closes within measurement uncertainty.

Labeled 3D render of the proposed cold-plate testbed and supporting instruments — Proposed testbed rendered from the preliminary CAD. Supporting equipment and layout are schematic, not an as-built photograph. Figure source

My work

I’m developing the cold-plate CAD and Python workflows for logger-data analysis. The workflow checks units and steady operating periods before calculating heat transferred to the water, energy balance, and uncertainty.

The design includes interchangeable flow inserts. Reduced-order hydraulic calculations screen pressure losses, while a thermal model explores how imposed heat-transfer patterns affect surface temperature.

Two-dimensional synthetic surface-temperature map from the cold-plate thermal model — Synthetic temperature field using an imposed coolant-side heat-transfer coefficient. This is not an experimental measurement, CFD result, or prediction of which insert performs best. Figure source

Checks and limits

Software checks use synthetic records to exercise the calculations and rejection of unsuitable runs. They test the analysis workflow, not the physical performance of the proposed hardware.

The thermal model does not predict heat-transfer coefficients from insert geometry. Hydraulic loss coefficients remain unmeasured. Calibration and experimental validation are still ahead; the preliminary design is not machining approved or pressure rated.

Figures and technical scope: ColdPlateTwin repository. Synthetic examples are not laboratory results.