Articles techniques et présentations

Multiphysics optimization of thermal-fluid systems is an emerging area of interest with application to the development of high performance cooling technologies for electronic systems. This paper builds on previous work focused on the development of a computational platform for numerical optimization. Specifically, a sample optimized topology is briefly described, and the final result is implemented in simplified form as a microchannel-based cooling structure having a defined length scale. A geometric parameter sweep is then executed in COMSOL Multiphysics to examine the manner in which channel aspect ratio influences heat transfer and pressure drop performance. The overall approach to heat sink design is compared with more conventional techniques that utilize traditional straight fin channel geometries. Hence, the planned paper will focus on the synthesis of an optimization result into a useful thermal-fluid structure plus a subsequent parameter study for design refinement thus illustrating the general utility of the approach.