Case Studies Liquid-Cooled Cold Plate for Automotive Power Electronics with Shark-Inspired Flow Guides

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	Liquid-Cooled Cold Plate for Automotive Power Electronics with Shark-Inspired Flow Guides

Liquid-Cooled Cold Plate for Automotive Power Electronics with Shark-Inspired Flow Guides

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation Analytics & Modeling - Generative AI Functional Applications - Product Lifecycle Management Systems (PLM)
Applicable Industries	Aerospace Automotive Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Additive Manufacturing Digital Twin Predictive Quality Analytics
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	The engineers of Puntozero faced the challenge of redesigning the cold plate of the power electronics in Dynamis PRC’s electric race car for additive manufacturing. The primary issues identified were the non-uniform flow near the curvatures of the duct and the insufficient heat transfer surface area. These problems needed to be addressed to optimize the cooling efficiency and overall performance of the race car's power electronics. The team aimed to create a more efficient cooling system that could handle the high-performance demands of the Formula SAE Electric competition. Read More
About Customer	Dynamis PRC is the Formula Student team of Politecnico di Milano, a prestigious technical university in Italy. The team participates in the Formula SAE Electric competition, which serves as a platform for testing and showcasing innovations in drivetrain technology and fuel efficiency in a high-performance setting. Puntozero, a company specializing in advanced engineering solutions, partnered with Dynamis PRC to tackle the challenge of optimizing the cooling system for the race car's power electronics. The collaboration aimed to leverage additive manufacturing and advanced design techniques to achieve significant improvements in cooling efficiency and weight reduction. Read More
Solution	Puntozero engineers drew inspiration from the structure of shark scales to create a directional lamellar geometry that conforms to the duct of the cold plate. This design stirs the flow around the channel corners, enhancing the heat transfer surface area by 300%. The flow guides are based on a gyroid lattice, warped using advanced Field-Driven Design techniques. For the main structure of the heatsink, a diamond TPMS lattice with progressively decreasing thickness was selected. This external lattice reduced the weight and production cost of the component, improved its manufacturability, and increased the contact surface area with the power electronics to promote heat transfer. The cold plate prototype was additively manufactured in a powder alloy with a consistency close to pure aluminum. Computational tomography (CT) scanning was used to ensure the channel was free from powder and that the part was manufactured within specification and without imperfections. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation

Analytics & Modeling - Generative AI

Functional Applications - Product Lifecycle Management Systems (PLM)

Applicable Industries

Aerospace

Automotive

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Additive Manufacturing

Digital Twin

Predictive Quality Analytics

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

The engineers of Puntozero faced the challenge of redesigning the cold plate of the power electronics in Dynamis PRC’s electric race car for additive manufacturing. The primary issues identified were the non-uniform flow near the curvatures of the duct and the insufficient heat transfer surface area. These problems needed to be addressed to optimize the cooling efficiency and overall performance of the race car's power electronics. The team aimed to create a more efficient cooling system that could handle the high-performance demands of the Formula SAE Electric competition.

About Customer

Dynamis PRC is the Formula Student team of Politecnico di Milano, a prestigious technical university in Italy. The team participates in the Formula SAE Electric competition, which serves as a platform for testing and showcasing innovations in drivetrain technology and fuel efficiency in a high-performance setting. Puntozero, a company specializing in advanced engineering solutions, partnered with Dynamis PRC to tackle the challenge of optimizing the cooling system for the race car's power electronics. The collaboration aimed to leverage additive manufacturing and advanced design techniques to achieve significant improvements in cooling efficiency and weight reduction.

Solution

Puntozero engineers drew inspiration from the structure of shark scales to create a directional lamellar geometry that conforms to the duct of the cold plate. This design stirs the flow around the channel corners, enhancing the heat transfer surface area by 300%. The flow guides are based on a gyroid lattice, warped using advanced Field-Driven Design techniques. For the main structure of the heatsink, a diamond TPMS lattice with progressively decreasing thickness was selected. This external lattice reduced the weight and production cost of the component, improved its manufacturability, and increased the contact surface area with the power electronics to promote heat transfer. The cold plate prototype was additively manufactured in a powder alloy with a consistency close to pure aluminum. Computational tomography (CT) scanning was used to ensure the channel was free from powder and that the part was manufactured within specification and without imperfections.

Impact #1	The redesigned cold plate featured a 25% reduction in weight, making the race car lighter and more efficient.
Impact #2	The bioinspired flow guides increased the heat transfer surface area by 300%, significantly improving cooling efficiency.
Impact #3	The use of a diamond TPMS lattice structure reduced production costs and improved manufacturability.

Impact #1

The redesigned cold plate featured a 25% reduction in weight, making the race car lighter and more efficient.

Impact #2

The bioinspired flow guides increased the heat transfer surface area by 300%, significantly improving cooling efficiency.

Impact #3

The use of a diamond TPMS lattice structure reduced production costs and improved manufacturability.

Benefit #1	25% reduction in weight of the cold plate.
Benefit #2	300% increase in heat transfer surface area.

Benefit #1

25% reduction in weight of the cold plate.

Benefit #2

300% increase in heat transfer surface area.

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Overview

Liquid-Cooled Cold Plate for Automotive Power Electronics with Shark-Inspired Flow Guides

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit