Research and application of topology optimization on air-cooled heat sinks☆

With the continual increase in power density of electronic devices, addressing the imperative need to enhance the heat dissipation capability of their heat sinks is crucial. This study investigates into the application of densitybased topology optimization on air-cooled heat sinks. To mitigate computational costs, a two-dimensional double-layer model replaces the conventional three-dimensional model. The optimization objective is set to minimize the inlet and outlet pressure drop while keeping the heat exchange rate constant. Exploring various extrapolation strategies to minimize intermediate density during the optimization process, a three-dimensional numerical simulation compares the topology optimized heat sink with a straight-channel heat sink, analyzing their heat dissipation performance under identical operating conditions. Furthermore, an experiment is designed and executed to validate the accuracy of the three-dimensional numerical simulation. The results demonstrate the superior heat exchange performance of the optimized heat sink, achieving a 13 % reduction in junction temperature compared to the straight-channel heat sink.