Innovative Designs of 3D Heat Sinks by Topology Optimization

Abstract The topology optimization (TO) method is developed and applied to 3D heat sink design optimization using the finite element method (FEM). To go from theory to practical application of optimized heat sink designs, the impact of the ratio between fin height (Hc) and substrate thickness (Hb) on the performance of heat sinks was investigated, studying the critical role of geometric parameters in heat dissipation performance, focusing on optimizing the internal fluid channels to enhance the overall hydraulic and thermal efficiencies under various operating conditions. Optimal flow conditions vary across TO designs; notably, structures with near-equal (Hc) and (Hb) ratios demonstrated superior energy and fluid flow overall performances. At high Reynolds numbers, the optimized heat sink designs showed an enhancement in the overall performance up to 41.2%, showcasing the effectiveness of the present TO method. The new 3D optimal designs can be applied to different applications such as the cooling of CPU, GPU, and different electronic chips.