The June issue of IEEE Spectrum included an insert focused on Multiphysics Simulation. This included a feature on cooling in hybrid cars, articles about metamaterials, the smart power grid, as well as biomedical applications.
The cover story for this insert was about The Toyota Research Institute of North America, who work out of Ann Arbor. Here, Ercan Dede, Jaewook Lee, and Tsuyoshi Nomura are working to improve the cold plates that keep Toyota’s hybrid vehicles’ power electronics cool. Made from aluminum, these plates allow a water/glycol cooling mixture to flow through a series of channels on one side of the plates. The aim is to maximize cooling efficiency while reducing pressure drops across the plate.
I encourage you to order this insert, which is provided free of charge. In it, you will see that their simulations facilitated the team with optimized designs for the cold plate’s topology, while allowing for good cooling efficiency and low pressure drops. As hybrid vehicles include more and more electronic parts, we can only see an increased need for keeping these fragile key components cool and durable. Read more in the Multiphysics Simulation supplement.
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