Computational Analysis of Thermal Performance of Heat Sinks with Foam Structure

Efficient heat transfer is crucial in modern electronics driven by the rise of artificial intelligence to maintain optimal system performance. In the last decades, scholars have explored various strategies to enhance electronic device thermal management, focusing on the effects of fin shape, dimension and spacing on heat transfer efficiency. Recent advancements in additive manufacturing have enabled fabrication of complex geometries, such as triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS), which offer promising alternatives to conventional designs. This study presents comparative analysis of thermal performance and fluid flow characteristics of two foam TPMS-based (gyroid and primitive) with foam wavy fin heat sinks made with the use of aluminum foam. COMSOL Multiphysics with implemented finite element method was used to simulate convective heat transfer, pressure drop, Nusselt number, and thermal performance at different fluid velocities along channel length. The foam structure was heated by copper plate, and the Nusselt number was evaluated over porosity levels from 0.1 to 0.9. Porosity between 0.5 and 0.7 offers the best balance of cooling performance and pumping power. Foam TPMS heat sinks, particularly gyroid structure, provide enhanced thermal dissipation owing to their high surface area-to-volume ratio and interconnected geometry. The finding confirms the potential of TPMS heat sinks as alternatives to conventional wavy designs for advanced thermal management applications.