Design and Optimization of Heat Sinks for the Liquid Cooling of Electronics with Multiple Heat Sources: A Literature Review

This paper presents a detailed literature review on the thermal management issue faced by electronic devices, particularly concerning uneven heating and overheating problems. Special focus is given to the design and structural optimization of heat sinks for efficient single-phase liquid cooling. Firstly, the paper highlights the common presence and detrimental consequences of electronics overheating resulting from multiple heat sources, supported by various illustrative examples. Subsequently, the emphasis is placed on single-phase liquid cooling as one of the effective thermal management technologies for power electronics, as well as on the enhancement of heat transfer in micro/mini channel heat sinks. Various studies on the design and structural optimization of heat sinks are then analyzed and categorized into five main areas: (1) optimization of channel cross-section shape, (2) optimization of channel flow passage, (3) flow distribution optimization for parallel straight channel heat sinks, (4) optimization of pin-fin shape and arrangement, and (5) topology optimization of global flow configuration. After presenting a broad and complete overview of the state of the art, the paper concludes with a critical analysis of the methods and results from the literature and highlights the research perspectives and challenges in the field. It is shown that the issue of uneven and overheating caused by multiple heat sources, which is commonly observed in modern electronics, has received less attention in the literature compared to uniform or single-peak heating. While several design and structural optimization techniques have been implemented to enhance the cooling performance of heat sinks, topology optimization has experienced significant advancements in recent years and appears to be the most promising technology due to its highest degree of freedom to treat the uneven heating problem. This paper can serve as an essential reference contributing to the development of liquid-cooling heat sinks for efficient thermal management of electronics.