Sensitivity and optimization analysis of pillar arrangement on the thermal–hydraulic performance of vapor chamber

Abstract

A vapor chamber with pillar columns is imperative for heat management in high-powered electronic devices. Previous investigations presented a trade-off between the thermal transfer and flow pressure drop within the parameters of the pillar arrangement. However, the parameters of pillar arrangement at millimeter scale are not thoroughly considered, and this trade-off has yet to be addressed in the complete VC-P device. In this work, we optimized the parameters of pillar arrangement at millimeter scale within the complete VC-P, which was conducted by ANSYS Workbench with optiSLang. The multi-objective minimization strategy was the maximum temperature difference on the condenser surface (ΔTc,max), total thermal resistance (R), and total pressure drop (ΔPtotal). The three key parameters of optimizing pillar arrangement were the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) pitch of pillar columns, and the diameter of pillar columns. First, a prediction model utilizing a response surface methodology derived from a central composite design was established. The results found that a critical pitch of pillar columns is approximately 15 mm. High sensitivity value (0.84) indicate that the diameter of pillar columns has a crucial impact on ΔTc,max and R. Using strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm 2, Part of these optimized VC-P exhibits reduce ΔPvc significant up to 40–60 %, while incurring a marginal increase in R and ΔTc,max higher less than 4–13 % and 1–8 % compared to the vapor chamber without pillar columns. Finally, the final optimal solution has been selected using the TOPSIS analysis method. The case study presented can offer valuable insights into the application of the same methodologies for the analysis of scenarios involving non-circular pillars.