Feature-Driven Topology Optimization of Conformal Cooling Channel Structures Based on Parametric Mapping

Featured Application: The proposed feature-driven topology-optimization method based on parametric mapping is applicable to the design of thin-walled conformal cooling structures with complex curved surfaces. It can directly generate CAD-friendly channel configurations without tedious post-processing reconstruction. This technique can be widely applied to the thermal management of conformal antenna arrays, aerospace curved components, special-shaped battery modules and high-heat-flux electronic devices, providing an effective design solution for high-performance liquid cold plates in aerospace, new energy and high-performance computing fields. Thin-walled conformal cooling structures are essential for the thermal management of complex curved electronic and aerospace devices. The traditional topology optimization of conformal cooling structures requires cumbersome post-processing reconstruction and inevitably induces thermal performance deviations of the optimized results. To address this issue, this paper proposes a feature-driven topology-optimization method based on parametric mapping for the design of conformal cooling structures. The parametric mapping is introduced to map 3D complex curved design domains into 2D parametric domain where the B-Spline Offset Feature (BSOF) is defined to model the fluid channels. A generalized extrusion operator is adopted to achieve uniform pseudo-density distribution and consistent physical properties throughout the structural thickness direction. Numerical examples including cylindrical and spherical thin-walled conformal cooling structures are studied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.