Multi-objective thermal design optimization and comparative analysis of electronics cooling technologies

A multi-objective thermal design optimization and comparative study of electronics cooling technologies is presented. The cooling technologies considered are: continuous parallel micro-channel heat sinks, in-line and staggered circular pin-fin heat sinks, offset strip fin heat sinks, and single and multiple submerged impinging jet(s). Using water and HFE-7000 as coolants, Matlab’s multi-objective genetic algorithm functions were utilized to determine the optimal thermal design of each technology based on the total thermal resistance and pumping power consumption under constant pressure drop and heat source base area of 100 mm2. Plots of the Pareto front indicate a trade-off between the total thermal resistance and pumping power consumption. In general, the offset strip fin heat sink outperforms the other cooling technologies.