Shape Optimization of a Plate-Fin Type Heat Sink for High Performance

Thermal performance of heat sink for a fixed volume is influenced by the design variables. Thus, in this study the optimal values of the design variables are obtained numerically by integrating the CFD and mathematical optimization for high performance of the plate-fin heat sink with vortex generator. The optimum solutions in the heat sink can be achieved when the temperature rise and the pressure drop, which are the objective functions, are minimized simultaneously. The flow and thermal fields are predicted to calculate the objective functions using the finite volume method. The optimization is carried out by means of sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. The results show that when the temperature rise is less than 40 K, the optimal design variables are B₁ = 2.584 mm, B₂ = 1.741 mm, and t = 7.914 mm. Comparing with the initial design, the temperature rise is reduced by 4.2 K, while the pressure drop is increased by 9.43 Pa. The Pareto optimal solutions are also presented between the pressure drop and the temperature rise.