Abstract
Enhancing power density and reliability of power
electronics is extremely important in power electronics
applications. One of the key challenges in the design process is
to design the optimum heat sink. In this paper, an algorithm is
proposed to design air-cooled heat sinks using genetic algorithm
(GA) and finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. While the
GA generates a population of candidate heat sinks in each
iteration, FEA simulations are used to evaluate the fitness
function of each. The fitness function considered in this paper is
the maximum junction temperature of the semiconductor
devices. With an approach that prefers “survival of the fittest”,
a heat sink providing better performance than the conventional
heat sinks is obtained. The simulation and experimental
evaluations of the optimized air-cooled heat sink are also
included in the paper.
