Thermally Driven Multi-Objective Packing Optimization Using Acceleration Fields

Abstract The packing optimization of three-dimensional components into a design space is a challenging and time-intensive task. Of particular concern is the thermal performance of the system, as tightly packed components typically exhibit poor heat dissipation performance which can result in overheating and system failure. As temperature modeling can be quite complex, there is a growing demand in the industry for software tools that aid designers in the packing process whilst considering heat transfer. This work outlines a novel multi-objective algorithm that considers temperature and thermal effects directly within the packing optimization process itself using thermal optimization objectives. In addition, the algorithm can consider functional objectives such as a desired center of mass position and minimizing rotational inertia. The algorithm packs components from initial to optimal positions within a design domain using a set of dynamic acceleration fields. There are multiple accelerations, each designed to improve the objective values for the systems (e.g., minimize temperature variance). Component temperatures are calculated using thermal finite element analyses modeling conduction and natural convection. Forced convection is approximated via computational fluid dynamics simulations. Numerical results for two academic and one real-world case studies are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the presented algorithm.