Analysis of Heat Transfer in a Complex Three Dimensional Structure Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing

C. Settle[1], K. Hoshino[1]
[1]Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
Published in 2014

The goal of this study was to create a three dimensionally designed biomedical device with multiple functionalities and analyze its simulated heat transfer. The device would be fabricated through additive manufacturing; specifically electron beam melting (EBM). EBM has a feature size constraint of 1 mm (acceptable for this design) and is only capable of manufacturing titanium alloys [2]; a biocompatible metal commonly used in the medical implant market [1]. In addition, silicon IC chips are used as attached functional elements. From the simulation, it was concluded that the device design and characteristics can be optimized through this COMSOL Multiphysics® analysis.