In the innovative “skiving” heat sink manufacturing process, a heat sink is “peeled” from a single piece. In this process, the individual fins are connected directly to the base without any transitions. Compared to the conventional “extrusion” manufacturing process, skiving enables the production of heat sinks with thinner fins and smaller fin spacing. As a result, the thermal performance of the heat sink can be increased, while flow pressure loss and material usage are reduced. These new design possibilities make it more difficult to perform computational design of heat sinks using conventional methods.
As part of this research project, an AI-based design tool for these innovative finned heat sinks will be developed. To develop the tool, the range of possible manufacturing parameters (e.g., materials and geometries) will be analyzed in detail. A comprehensive database will be established through flow simulations of the heat sinks with various geometric parameters in combination with different fan parameters. Prototypes of the peeled finned heat sinks will be thermally tested with different fan power levels, and the results will be used to validate the simulation results.
The goal of the project is to develop an AI-based optimization tool that is trained using this dataset. By entering parameters such as the temperature profile and the heat loss to be dissipated, the tool can calculate optimized design concepts for finned heat sinks as complete systems with fans. The tool’s output parameters include, for example, the basic dimensions of the finned heat sink, the required surface area, the number and height of the fins, the fin spacing, the thickness of the base, and the required fan power.
Contact: Justin Fey, Prof. Dr. Boris Schilder
Batteries in electric vehicles must be able to deliver and absorb high currents during driving and charging. This generates heat in the battery, which leads to a rise in temperature. The aging and performance of lithium-ion batteries strongly depend on the temperature and the temperature distribution within the battery.
We are using simulations and experiments to investigate heat generation and heat transport in battery modules. The goal is to develop thermal management concepts that enable the best possible heat removal and the most homogeneous temperature in the battery. This can have a positive influence on the service life, energy density and costs of batteries.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Boris Schilder
High-performance electronics generate high heat flows that are usually dissipated by air-based cooling concepts. However, air cooling has the disadvantages that it offers only limited cooling performance, requires a lot of space, the fans consume energy and can be noisy.
Evaporative cooling offers the highest heat transfer performance and can operate passively and therefore silently.
Current evaporation-based cooling concepts are mostly based on the "heat pipe" concept. Water is often used as a cooling medium in heat pipes. To cool high-performance electronics down to acceptable temperatures (e.g. 70 °C), low system pressures and thus complex evacuation as well as a tight, pressure-resistant system are required. Therefore, the medium is transported in metallic pipes, which do not allow a flexible design of the fluid transport.
Our goal is to develop a novel evaporative cooling concept using a synthetic cooling medium that has a low boiling temperature (about 50 °C) at ambient pressure. This allows the system to operate at ambient pressure and eliminates the need for pressure-resistant walls. In contrast to a heat pipe, a capillary structure is only required in the evaporator, so normal hoses can be used for fluid transport.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Boris Schilder, Justin Fey
Contacts
