Design evolution

Introduction

ColdStream displays the intermediate designs for running and finished cases of type 'Standard design' and 'Custom design' under the 'Design evolution'-tab. Opening this tab for a case of interest visualizes the progress of the optimization. At any given moment, you'll be able to see how many iterations have been performed by ColdStream.

The following chapter will delve deeper into the information displayed in the 'Design evolution'-tab. The last chapter will explain how to view the information for a specific iteration.

Design evolution tab

There are two types of graphical representations present in the 'Design evolution'-tab:

1. An overall design performance graph is displayed at the top of the page
2. Target-specific graphs: for each of the targets, a separate graph displays their evolution at the bottom of the page.

The first graph visualizes the overall performance evolution of the optimization across several iterations. The overall performance of the design is measured for the objectives of the case. Seeing as ColdStream performs an optimization, the lower this value, the better the performance. The different colors represent the feasibility of the design:

1. Green: best feasible iteration up until now
2. Blue: feasible iteration but didn't improve on last green design
3. Red: infeasible iteration due to constraints not being met

Overall design performance graph

The target-specific graphs showcase the same information but for each target individually. Comparing these graphs with one another reveals which target dominates over the other. The legend is the same as enumerated above.

Selecting specific iterations

The dots on the graphs are interactive. You can click on one to view it in more detail. Alternatively, you can directly insert an iteration number at the input field on the top if you would like to view that iteration in more detail, or you can use the arrows to navigate through the different iterations. The selected iteration in question will be highlighted in each of the graphs by fat circular markers.

For cases of type 'Standard design', once an iteration is selected, a GUI appears for each design subregion displaying the heatsink(s) ColdStream used during this iteration. Additional information about the displayed heatsinks will also be shown:

• What type of heat sink was attempted in the selected iteration: pins, fins, ...
• How the heat sink is manufactured and what material is used
• The number of elements
• Further geometrical information

Heatsink GUI for selected iteration