Significant levels of heat are generated in contemporary electronics, and next generation devices will continue to demand higher power despite decreasing size; therefore, highly effective cooling schemes are needed.  Simultaneously, advances in metal additive manufacturing (AM) have enabled production of complex heat transfer devices previously impossible to traditionally manufacture.  This article introduces performance measurements of three novel prototypes originally designed for the ASME Heat Sink Design Competition sponsored by the K-16 (Heat Transfer in Electronic Equipment) technical committee.  These designs demonstrate the abilities of selective laser melting (SLM) processes in the fabrication of magnesium, aluminum, and copper heat sinks.  A fourth prototype is also introduced to explore the applications of embedded heat pipes in reducing the temperature gradient along a heat sink fin.  The performance of each of these prototypes have been determined experimentally, and the effects of specific material and design choices are analyzed.  Comparisons of experimental heat transfer results show that the copper and aluminum prototypes performed better than the magnesium due to increased thermal conductivity; however, the gains in thermal performance from aluminum to copper were much lower despite the larger difference in thermal conductivity.  Pressure drop tests confirmed that the three identical prototype had comparable air pressure requirements, and due to thicker fin thickness and lower flow bypass, the heat pipe prototype required a larger air pressure to achieve the same flow rate.


Performance Analysis of Heat Sinks Designed for Additive Manufacturing

Division / Sponsors: 
Electronic & Photonic Packaging Division (EPPD)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/InterPACK/InterPACK2020/volume/84041

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