Heat sinks, used to regulate the temperature of electronic devices, are more pertinent now than ever, especially with the increased demand for personal devices such as laptop computers.
Without the cooling provided by heat sinks, electrical components would overheat and these types of devices would see significantly decreased longevity. Heat sink manufacturing technology hasn’t changed much over time, but metal 3D printing could change that.
The 18th Intersociety Conference on Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronic Systems challenged students to find innovative ways to take advantage of modern-day manufacturing technologies to design heat sinks in a new way.