Blog
May 26, 2023

Revolutionizing Thermal Management: Diabatix's Solutions

Jousef Murad

Introduction

Why Thermal Analysis and Diabatix

Thermal analysis is vital for engineering designs to predict the behavior of materials and components under different thermal conditions. Skipping or incorrectly performing the thermal analysis can lead to problems such as overheating, shortened lifespan of components, and reduced overall performance. Therefore, thermal analysis has become a key enabler to ensure reliable and well-performing products.  

Innovate Smart

We specialise in thermal analysis and heat sink design using cutting-edge technology such as topology optimization, generative design, and machine learning. Our innovative technology allows for the creation of optimized thermal designs from scratch. Our flagship product, ColdStream, is a cloud-based engineering platform that supports the entire cooling design process, from thermal analysis to thermal design.

The benefits of using this platform include shorter design cycles, the ability to predict behavior in untested environments, and access to more information than traditional experimental tests.

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Fig. 3D model of an LED component utilized in a thermal analysis to predict the behavior under different thermal conditions.

Objectives

In this blog, we will showcase the distinctive abilities of our platform to provide efficient and intelligent thermal solutions through a real-world industrial example. We will address the following topics:

  • The importance and benefits of thermal analysis
  • A thermal analysis use case: Showcasing how a CFD simulation was used to gain insights into the thermal behavior of a particular lighting fixture in the LED industry.
  • Benefits of generative design for LED and lighting: Introducing the concept of generative design and how Cold Stream applies it to heatsinks in the LED industry.
  • Discovering ColdStream: Demonstrating how to explore and utilize ColdStream.

This blog is there to cater to a diverse range of professionals, including those working in the LED and lighting industry, designers who wish to enhance experimental validation with reliable simulations, as well as those who lack thermal and/or CFD background and require user-friendly thermal software. 

But we also address decision-makers and engineering team leaders who aim to maximize efficiency by reducing engineering time spent on iterative guessing games, reduce unneeded CFD simulations and decrease material costs, ultimately getting their product faster to the market without jeopardizing product quality or performance.

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Challenges

Overheating is a major issue in the LED and lighting industry, but the use of thermal software can prevent it from hindering performance or design freedom. Proper thermal management and analysis can lead to more efficient cooling, prolonged LED lifetime, reduced costs in experimentation and prototyping, and shorter design cycles to market. Using thermal analysis provides faster results, more information about the product performance, and measurements of temperature throughout the part, as well as modeling complex physical phenomena such as conduction, convection, radiation, buoyancy, and turbulence - a very complex undertaking in terms of model and simulation setup.

Fig. A reliable thermal analysis comprises complex physical phenomena to consider simultaneously.

An engineer has to take into account all these different physical phenomena such as conduction, which is the transfer of energy between materials in direct contact. Convection, which is the transfer of energy through the motion of matter, typically via the air surrounding the light fixture. And radiation, which is the transfer of energy through electromagnetic waves and can also be modeled. On top of that buoyancy, turbulence, and temperature-dependent properties are other important phenomena that can be incorporated into thermal analysis using CFD simulations, but also aggravate predictability of the thermal performance. Understanding temperature class and the risk of ignition is also essential in designing safe products in the LED industry. In short, using thermal analysis through CFD simulations can provide valuable insights and prevent potential safety hazards.

Solution

Thermal analysis can increase confidence in product performance, help make smarter choices for heatsinks, ensure longer LED lifetimes, and ensure that the correct parts are ordered. Overall, Diabatix provides a solution for solving the overheating problem in the LED and lighting industry through its specialized software tool, ColdStream.

We specialize in conjugate heat transfer and provide solutions for performing thermal analysis and designing new, AI-generated cooling solutions. ColdStream helps engineers and designers in every phase of the cooling design phase, solving the constant problem of overheating in the LED and lighting industry. By using thermal analysis, engineers can not only save time and money by shortening design cycles to market, but can also replace large parts of the experimental validation process entirely, providing an indication of how the product behaves in an untested environment.

Fig. Temperature distribution on the LED componentanalyzed with ColdStream by Diabatix.

Summary

Here are the main advantages of using Diabatix's software tool, ColdStream, for thermal analysis in the LED and lighting industry:

  • Smarter choice of heat sink: The tool helps you make informed decisions about the type of heat sink to use in your lighting fixture, based on thermal and flow behavior analysis.
  • Longer LED lifetime: By ensuring that your LED stays within the desired operating temperatures, you can increase its lifespan.
  • Order the correct parts: Thermal analysis can help you order the right parts and shorten the overall design cycle.
  • Convenient post-processing: ColdStream allows you to take screenshots and easily showcase the results in internal reports.
  • Thermal network visualization: The tool provides a visual representation of how the heat sources are connected to other regions through interfaces, helping you track heat dissipation.
  • Compare cases view: You can compare different operating conditions by adding several cases to a comparative view, enabling you to make informed decisions about design changes.
Fig. Predict temperatures quickly and accurately - Use ColdStream to easily assess the thermal performance of your product.

In addition to these advantages, Diabatix also offers generative design services that can help you create new heat sinks specifically tailored to your LED and lighting fixtures. Its user-friendly novel technology enables easy thermal analysis without requiring expertise in CFD, convenient post-processing options, and a low entry barrier to generative design. The platform enables users to define a design space and compare hundreds of different designs backed with CFD performance evaluations, eventually reaching the global optimum of the best-performing design.

Fig. An example of the Generative Heat Sink Design with ColdStream by Diabatix.

Explore the generative design possibilities here and do not hesitate to contact us for any further assistance!

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