Thermal characterisation of rectangular cooling shapes in solids

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate thermal geometric optimisation of rectangular heat conductive cooling structures within solid heat‐generating media for the purpose of minimising peak temperatures and enabling optimum use of spatial volume within integrated power electronics.

Design/methodology/approach

A vortex‐centred finite volume numerical solver was developed, employing a fully implicit solution algorithm to obtain 3D temperature distributions. By comparing the peak temperatures obtained for a wide range of related cases, optimised cross‐sectional shapes for particular input conditions were obtained.

Findings

Optimum shapes are dependent on seven identified parameters. In cases where a low percentage of volume is occupied by cooling structures, a high tendency exists for continuous thin cooling layers, as opposed to discrete rectangular cooling inserts, to present the best thermal behaviour. At higher volume percentages, the opposite is true.

Practical implications

The reduced dimensions of cooling inserts have caused manufacturability to be a concern. Research has shown that at small dimensional scale ranges the cross‐sectional shape of the cooling insert has little influence on its thermal performance. In such cases little or no thermal advantage or loss is incurred by making use of continuous cooling layers, which are easiest to manufacture.

Originality/value

The tendencies of optimum cooling structure shapes were obtained and described in terms of seven geometric and material property‐related parameters. Thermal performance of individual inserts is not linearly proportional to dimensional scaling and it was found that, at small‐scale ranges, optimisation from a manufacturing viewpoint would not significantly impact on thermal performance.

Citation

Dirker, J., Malan, A.G. and Meyer, J.P. (2007), "Thermal characterisation of rectangular cooling shapes in solids", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 361-383. https://doi.org/10.1108/09615530710739158