Numerical Investigation of the Thermal Performance of Lattice Structures
摘要
Lattice structures have become potential options for better thermal management because they have high surface-to-volume ratios and can be easily changed thanks to additive manufacturing. This work statistically examines the thermal performance of three architected lattice cells—CC-BCC, Pyramid-based, and a topology-optimized channel design (TO1)—under forced convection cooling utilizing Autodesk Fusion 360. The lattices were evaluated in various longitudinal (1 × 1, 3 × 1, 5 × 1) and transverse (3 × 3, 5 × 3) configurations to assess their heat transfer efficiency and temperature distribution characteristics. We chose the Temperature Uniformity Index (TUI) and the Thermal Resistance (Rθ) as performance measurements. The TO1 lattice had the lowest thermal resistance (0.18 °C/W in a single cell setting) because it had a lot of surface area and internal channels. The CC-BCC lattice, on the other hand, had the most even temperature distribution, with a TUI of 0.99. Longitudinal layouts lowered heat resistance as the number of cells increased, but they also lowered TUI since the speed of the airflow slowed down downstream. On the other hand, transverse layouts improved both cooling efficiency and uniformity. In the 3 × 3 design, TO1 had a TUI of about 0.98. The proposed designs outperformed traditional lattice topologies including BCC, Kelvin, FCC, and Octet in reducing substrate temperatures below 30 °C and enhancing homogeneity. These results show that architected lattices could be useful for new types of cold plates and heat sinks.