Multi-objective optimal design of microchannel cooling heat sink using topology optimization method

Abstract

This article presents a density-based topology optimization (TO) method for a coupled thermal-fluid problem, in which the Navier-Stokes and heat transport equations are coupled. The two-dimensional microchannel heat sink model with fixed solid heat generation plates based on TO method is developed. These devices, such as air-cooled heat sinks, have recently attracted considerable attention in engineering applications of thermal cooling devices. The high-performance and functional diversification cooling devices are obtained by the proposed optimization method in this research. An optimal design problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem, which includes heat resistance, energy dissipation and pressure drop. In the numerical implementation, Helmholtz-type Partial Differential Equation (PDE) based filter and smoothed Heaviside projection filter are utilized to produce discrete solutions, thus solving ill-posedness. Furthermore, TO result of channel layout obtained for a microchannel heat sink design is presented as an example to illustrate the validity of design methodology. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to study the effects of the weighting coefficient changes on the optimal results.