Open Access

ARTICLE

Topology Optimization and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Microchannel Heat Sink

Bo Cai^*, Song Jin, Jiaqi Zhang, Lei Hua
College of Locomotive and Rolling Stock Engineering, Dalian Jiaotong University, Dalian, China
* Corresponding Author: Bo Cai. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advancements in Energy Efficiency and Thermal Management for Data Center)

Energy Engineering https://doi.org/10.32604/ee.2026.083149

Received 30 March 2026; Accepted 25 May 2026; Published online 01 July 2026

Abstract

Aiming at the high heat flux heat dissipation requirements of high-power electronic devices, this paper adopts the topology optimization method, with the dual goals of minimizing the average temperature and flow power dissipation, including single inlet single outlet (SISO), single inlet double outlet (SIDO), double inlet single outlet (DISO) and double inlet double outlet (DIDO), four flow channel layout design domains 6 mm² × 8 mm² are used to optimize the structure and study the heat transfer characteristics. The results show that with the increase of pressure drop, the optimized flow channel presents the characteristics of multi-stage bifurcation evolution, and the heat transfer effect is significantly improved; Among them, the heat dissipation performance and temperature uniformity of the DIDO layout. Further, the topological configuration and heat dissipation performance of DIDO under different pressure drops (20~60 Pa) are analyzed, and the pressure drop, temperature, Nusselt number and heat transfer enhancement factor are compared based on CFD. The results show that when the inlet velocity is 0.7 m/s, the weighted average temperature of the DIDO model decreases to 303 K (the simulated temperature of the three-dimensional model), the comprehensive heat transfer factor is higher than 2.8, and the weighted average pressure drop is about 35% compared with that of the straight channel. The comprehensive trade off shows that the comprehensive heat transfer performance of the DIDO topology with a pressure drop of 40 Pa is the best. This paper verifies the significant advantages of topology optimization method in the design of microchannel radiators, and provides a new idea for high-power electronic devices with high efficiency and low resistance.

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Keywords

Microchannel; topology optimization; conjugate heat transfer; nusselt number; numerical simulation

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