A gyroid TPMS heat sink for electronic cooling

Abstract

• Introducing a gyroid TPMS heat sink (GHS) for thermal management of microprocessors. • A comprehensive investigation of flow and heat transfer characteristics is performed. • The designs are analyzed across various porosities, flow rates, and heating schemes. • A correlation is established for the hydraulic diameter of the gyroid TPMS structure. • The GHS design outperformed the pinfin heat sink, albeit with higher pumping power. The trend toward thinner and lighter electronic devices necessitates developing advanced thermal management solutions to address modern microprocessors’ escalating heat dissipation demands. This study introduces an advanced thermal solution incorporating a gyroid TPMS structure with remarkable physical properties for microprocessor cooling. Detailed investigations were conducted using a full-scale heat sink model to understand the inner geometric structure, flow, and heat transfer characteristics within a gyroid heat sink (GHS). The thermo-hydraulic performance of the GHS design was systematically assessed against that of a pinfin heat sink (PHS) across different porosities and flow rates. Both heat sinks were evaluated under non-uniform heating conditions, considering three heating schemes, each with eleven randomly distributed hotspots. The thermohydraulic performance was assessed by calculating temperature non-uniformity, thermal resistance, and pumping power. A correlation was established using the cell size and cell wall thickness of a unit cell of gyroid TPMS to calculate its hydraulic diameter. The analysis revealed that the enhanced thermal performance of the GHS design can be attributed to its intricate and convoluted flow structure, along with a significantly large heat transfer surface area. However, these same factors contribute to a notably high-pressure drop. Compared to the PHS design, the GHS design showed better thermal performance at all the selected porosities and flow rates, albeit with higher pumping powers. The GHS design showed improvement in the thermal performance as the porosity decreased. Investigation under heterogeneous heating conditions showed substantially lower temperatures at the hotspots in the GHS design, along with reduced temperature variation among them. The study’s findings provide valuable insight into the advantages and drawbacks of gyroid TPMS structure for their application in electronic cooling.