Thermal performance enhancement of phase change material heat sinks for thermal management of electronic devices under constant and intermittent power loads

Metal fin enhanced phase change material (PCM) has been successfully demonstrated as an effective ap-proach for electronic devices cooling, especially in the case of high-power density for only a limited period. Application of PCMs in the heat sink accelerates the heat storage and reduces the heat rejection resulting in a tradeoff effect. In this study, the effects of PCM filling ratio, intermittent power load with different power off time interval and heat transfer coefficient on the performance of PCM-filled heat sinks are studied for electronic devices cooling. A constant power load is firstly studied to reveal the effect of PCM filling ratio. An intermittent power load with different power off time interval is then investigated to enlarge the operation time of electronic devices. Finally, the effect of heat transfer coefficient is discussed to assess the negative and positive effects of PCM. The results show that the effective operation time of PCM-filled heat sinks significantly increases and its peak temperature obviously reduces under intermit-tent power load compared to the constant power load, and it becomes more apparent with increasing power off time interval. The thermal performance of PCM-filled heat sinks significantly strengthens un-der natural cooling condition, i.e., h = 10 or 20 w.m(-2).K-1. However, during forced convection cooling, e.g., h = 100 w.m(-2).K-1, the heat sink without PCM may have a better performance because the nega-tive effect of PCM outweighs its positive effect. The results of this paper are of great significance in the optimal design of PCM-filled heat sink. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates the effectiveness of metal fin-enhanced phase change material (PCM) in cooling electronic devices, with significant improvements in operation time and peak temperature reduction. The performance of PCM-filled heat sinks varies under different operating modes and heat transfer conditions, showing tradeoff effects of PCM in forced convection cooling.