Conductive cooling of triangular shaped electronics using constructal theory Lotfollah Ghodoossi a, * , Nil € ufer E grican b a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 80191 Gumussuyu, Istanbul, Turkey b Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Architecture, Yeditepe University, 26 Agustos Yerlesimi, Kayisdagi Caddesi 81120 Kayisdagi/Istanbul, Turkey Received 15 March 2003; accepted 16 July 2003 Abstract Conductive cooling of electronics falls in the category of the more general ‘‘area to point’’ flow problem. Heat generated in a fixed area is to be discharged to a heat sink located on the border of the heat generating area through relatively high conductive link(s). This will maintain a limited temperature difference between the hot spot inside the heat generating area and the heat sink. The solution procedure starts with heat transfer analysis and geometric optimization of the smallest heat generating area. Assembly of optimized smallest areas in a fixed but larger heat generating area by introducing a new high conductive link and geometric optimization of the new area leads to achieving the goal of conductive cooling of the larger area. The sequence of assembly of optimized areas in a relatively larger area and geometric optimization of this area is continued until the required area size to be cooled is obtained. The process of assembly and opti- mization steps leads to formation of a tree network of high conductive links inside the heat generating area. Along with geometric optimization of the heat generating area in each step, the tree network of high conductive links is optimized with respect to high conductive material allocation in the heat generating area as well. Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Constructal design; Optimization; Tree networks; Electronics cooling; Heat transfer; Conduction * Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-212-2931-1300x2452; fax: +90-212-2450795. E-mail addresses: ghodoossi@itu.edu.tr (L. Ghodoossi), egrican@yeditepe.edu.tr (N. E grican). Energy Conversion and Management 45 (2004) 811–828 www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman 0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0196-8904(03)00190-0