Constructal design for tree-shaped compound heat transfer channel in a disc heat generation body

In this basic theoretical research paper, structure design of a tree-shaped compound heat transfer channel (CHTC) model in a disc heat generation body (HGB) is performed based on constructal theory. A complex function consisting of maximum temperature difference and pumping power consumption is minimized first based on the exhaustive method and Nelder-Mead optimization algorithm, and the optimal structure of the CHTC model is gained. The multi-objective optimization is further performed based on the non-dominated sorted genetic algorithm-II to obtain the Pareto optimal set, and the optimal results gained by the decision making approaches (DMAs) of LINMAP, TOPSIS and Shannon Entropy are compared. It reveals that the complex function of the HGB can approach its minimum when the reasonable radius, volume ratio and length ratio of the fluid channel in the CHTC are equal to 1.33 mm, 0.55 and 0.2, respectively. The thermal and fluid flow performances are increased by 11.6% and 30.3%, and the complex function is decreased by 21.0% after constructal design, which illustrates that the optimization effect is obvious. The thermal and fluid flow performances gained by the first two DMAs are increased by 29.60% and 5.10% after constructal design, and their deviation indexes are the same and the smallest one. Therefore, the optimal structure gained by the first two DMAs is recommended in the optimal design of the CHTC for disc HGB. Different optimal design schemes for different design requirements of the electronic devices can be offered by this paper, which aims to improve the thermal and fluid flow performances and theoretically solve the heat dissipation problem of the electronic devices. The contribution of this paper is to establish a tree-shaped CHTC model in a disc HGB, and introduce constructal theory into its structure design to obviously elevate the performance of the disc HGB. •Constructal design of a three-dimensional tree-shaped compound heat dissipation channel.•Linear weighted sum of maximum temperature difference and pumping power is minimized.•Multi-objective optimization is also conducted and Pareto frontier is obtained.•It provides theoretical guidelines for different design requirements of the electronic devices.