Optimization of Design Parameters for Efficient Heat Dissipation from Chip to Casing in High-Power Solid-State Drives

Effective thermal management is critical to the performance and reliability of solid-state drives (SSDs), especially in high-power applications where passive cooling remains the preferred solution due to space, noise, and energy constraints. This study investigates the impact of key design parameters—casing material, heat sink base thickness, and fin spacing—on heat dissipation from the chip to the casing under natural convection conditions. A three-dimensional finite volume method (FVM)-based thermal model was developed and validated experimentally, with chip and casing temperatures measured across various operating voltages. The model showed strong agreement with experimental data, with average deviations below 4%. Temperature contour analysis revealed that aluminum casings enabled more uniform heat distribution and lower thermal resistance compared to ABS, resulting in a chip temperature reduction of up to 9.28 °C. Increasing the heat sink base thickness from 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm further improved heat conduction, while fin spacing had a minor influence on performance. Taguchi optimization using chip-to-casing temperature drop as the performance metric identified the optimal configuration as an aluminum casing, 3.0 mm base thickness, and 2.4 mm fin spacing. This combination achieved the lowest chip temperature (52.18 °C) and minimal thermal resistance. The findings provide design insights for enhancing passive thermal solutions in high-power, compact SSD systems.