Diabatix generative design beats the heat by overcoming 'limits of the brain'

Heat build-up is a threat – it degrades batteries, destroys motors and spoils samples in biomedical devices.

The result of our inability to create perfectly efficient machines, it is often dissipated by heat sinks to protect devices and extend their operation. Heat sinks are normally rows of very thin, long metal fins, placed on devices to maximise surface area. The fins carry away heat and dissipate it into the air or another circulating fluid. 

Today’s computers depend on heat sinks to perform staggering numbers of calculations without crashing – or bursting into flames. Unfortunately, claims Belgian engineering firm Diabatix, they are also deeply flawed, held back by our brains’ own puny computing power. To improve on the standard design, it has turned to some of the most advanced engineering software, with a biological inspiration. 

Beating the brain

Generative design is one of the most prominent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in engineering. The process, which often runs on bespoke software, mimics natural evolution. Engineers tell the software what they want it to create – a highly efficient, lightweight heat sink, for example – and set parameters such as manufacturing method and material – copper and machining, perhaps. 

The software then runs countless simulations to create potential designs for a component, honing them and discounting failed ideas to find the best solution – the survival of the fittest.  

“As a human engineer, you are limited by your brain,” says Gert-Jan Paulus, AI design engineer at Diabatix. “By using software, you can take into account many, many numbers. That’s really important in fluid mechanics… if you change one number it also changes another number.” 

This complex approach results in complex designs, with about a thousand simulations finding the best result over several days. The striking shapes are a stark contrast to the rigid order of traditional heat sinks, blobs and streaks of metal creating winding cooling channels. 

The results, says Diabatix, are major improvements over previous designs. The company claims its approach improves cooling by 30%, and its designs frequently need lower pressure to pump fluid around the channels. 

Cooler, faster, better

In some sectors, these improvements are massively important – batteries in electric cars last longer and motors work more efficiently. Diabatix has worked with a Belgian Formula Student team to overcome cooling issues, and the company’s website refers to Formula E applications – although Paulus is tight-lipped about “big customers”. 

In other sectors, the improvement over traditional heat sinks can positively affect other parameters. In space applications, for example, weight savings from more efficient designs can reduce mission costs through lower fuel demand. 

Better cooling technology could also bring major benefits in telecoms, biomedical devices and computers, and Diabatix predicts that demand will only increase. 

“Heating is a common problem,” says Paulus. “If your smartphone heats up, it loses its performance, it’s going slower and slower. So when you cool it better you have more performance – you have a faster smartphone.”