Patterned Heat Sink Layout Using Local Thermal Contribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for designing heat sinks, such as those described in US11003808B2 and US20230169233A1, face challenges in ensuring overall performance optimization, as local material removal or complex design additions can lead to inefficient heat dissipation and production complexities.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method for designing a custom heat sink involves generating a mesh of a patterned heat sink, creating a heat map by imposing a thermal load, and iteratively solving fluid flow and energy equations using topology optimization to minimize a global performance function, thereby determining local contributions and omitting patterns with low contributions to achieve a custom design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of stationary object
If material is removed locally from a heat sink, then mass is reduced, but thermal resistance increases and overall performance may not improve
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by calculating and identifying specific regions (elements) within the heat sink that have low contribution to overall thermal performance. Material removal is performed selectively in these identified regions rather than uniformly, ensuring that local modifications do not compromise global thermal performance. The gradient-based identification method pinpoints exact locations where material removal is beneficial.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat sink is segmented into discrete elements through mesh generation, allowing individual evaluation of each element's contribution to thermal performance. This segmentation enables the optimization algorithm to treat each element independently, calculating local gradients and identifying specific segments for material removal based on their individual performance contributions.
2Reliability
If complex designs are generated by adding layers in successive steps, then performance constraints are met, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the optimization approach from additive (adding layers) to subtractive (removing material). By inverting the design philosophy and starting with a complete heat sink that is then selectively reduced, the method simplifies manufacturing while meeting performance constraints. The parameter change involves transforming the design space from addition to removal operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the conventional design approach by instead of building up heat sink structures layer by layer, it starts with a complete structure and removes material where not needed. This inversion simplifies the manufacturing process while achieving the same performance goals, as material removal is generally simpler than additive manufacturing for heat sinks.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables the design of a custom heat sink with improved efficiency and adaptability to specific components, achieving better thermal performance and reduced production complexity by maintaining a significant part of the standard heat sink design.
Implementation Method 1
The heat sink transfers thermal energy from a higher-temperature device to a lower-temperature fluid medium
Implementation Method 2
The heat sink is designed to maximize the heat transfer to the cooling medium surrounding it, such as the air
Data Source
AI summary
According to an embodiment a method is disclosed for designing a custom heat sink for exchanging heat with a component with a fluid medium comprising the steps of generating a mesh (201) of a patterned heat sink (100-102) comprising elements defining a discretized shape of a volume (202) enclosing the patterned heat sink containing a set of repeating massive patterns assembled on a base plate; generating a heat map of the mesh by imposing a thermal load thereby identifying thermal spots; iteratively solving until reaching a convergence criterium fluid flow equations and energy equations imposed on the mesh through a topology optimization method by minimizing a global performance function through minimizing of local gradients of the elements thereby determining a local contribution per element to an overall performance of the heat sink; omitting patterns having a local contribution below a first predefined value thereby obtaining the custom heat sink.