Enhanced Thermal Management in High-Temperature Applications: Design and Optimization of a Water-Cooled Forced Convection System in a Hollow Cuboid Vapour Chamber Using COMSOL and MATLAB

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and optimization of a water-cooled forced convection system within a hollow vapour chamber for high-temperature applications, using COMSOL and MATLAB to achieve efficient heat dissipation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combined use of COMSOL and MATLAB for topology optimization of a vapour chamber cooling system in high-temperature environments.

Findings

Optimized design reduces temperature gradients effectively.

2D modeling accelerates 3D simulation process.

Proposed system enhances waste heat recovery in power stations.

Abstract

This report details the design and optimisation of a water-cooled forced convection heat dissipation system for use in high-temperature applications (ranges between 700 degrees - 1000 degrees K). A hollow cuboid vapour chamber model was investigated. The space within the hollow cuboid was used as the design space. COMSOL, a FEM software product was used to solve for the physical parameters of each geometry for the heat dissipation system design space. COMSOL in conjunction with MATLAB was used for the parametric and density-based topology optimisation of the geometric design in the design space. The goal of the optimization is the minimisation of a temperature gradient over the design space. This allows the heat to be evenly spread throughout the designed mesh which allows for more effective cooling. To reduce the computational time needed to solve and optimise each geometry in 3D, a 2D representation was created for the front and rear faces of the hollow cuboid setup. These 2D face designs were then extrapolated into 3D over the length of the hollow cube and COMSOL was used to find a solution for each model. This report also proposes a use case for this system wherein it would be used in conjunction with MGA and thermometric technology within coal-fired power stations for the extraction and storage of waste heat for later use.