Performance evaluation of perforated pin fin heat sink using particle swarm optimization and MCDM techniques

To improve the heat transfer rate through heat sinks, extended surfaces (fins) are frequently used in several applications. It is a proven fact that the presence of perforations in fins further induces an increase in heat transfer rate. In this three-dimensional numerical investigation, the improvement of heat dissipation rate through perforated pin fins has been studied comprehensively by varying the number as well as the size of perforations. Additionally, three different base plate geometries (e.g., square, circular and triangular) have been selected on which fins are mounted at different places by keeping the base plate volume constant. The findings reveal that up to a certain number and size of perforation, the perforated fins show a better heat transfer rate than the solid ones. Again it has been noticed that through heat sink the pressure drop reduces significantly with the increase in number and the size of perforations. Moreover, with the variation of base plate geometry, the system performance is found to be higher for a triangular-shaped base plate. In order to verify the outcome of CFD results, particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique has been applied. The results obtained from PSO are in line with the trend seen from CFD analysis. A performance improvement of 0.58% and 0.59% has been obtained when a triangular base plate was used in place of circular and square-shaped plates, respectively. Finally, to identify the most suitable perforated fin structure on a triangular base, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques like MOORA and TOPSIS have also been used in the current research work.