Enhanced thermal performance of phase change material-integrated fin-type heat sinks for high power electronics cooling

We report the enhanced cooling performance of the phase change material (PCM)-integrated fin-type heat sink compared to conventional fin-type heat sink in high power electronics with two localized hot spots. The PCM-integrated fin-type heat sink is fabricated by embedding the phase change composite to the base plate of the heat sink. As an effort to effectively utilize thermal capacitive effects of PCM, the phase change composites with paraffin infiltrated to copper foams are deployed within circular hole arrays in the base plate, which is subsequently covered by a graphite sheet, to achieve excellent heat spreading characteristics. Considering the cooling environments of commercial high power electronics (insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)), thermal performance of the PCM-integrated and the conven-tional fin-type heat sinks is experimentally and numerically investigated upon the heating powers of 400 similar to 800 W. While the PCM-integrated fin-type heat sinks have similar heat sink thermal resistance with the conventional fin-type heat sinks, the PCM-integrated fin-type heat sinks exhibit an effective time delay up to -27.3% of the hot-spot temperature rise until 80 degrees C of the heat sinks in reduced cooling conditions, showing the potential as an effective thermal managing platform of the PCM-integrated heat sinks in convection-limited cooling environments. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The enhanced cooling performance of a phase change material (PCM)-integrated fin-type heat sink is reported in high power electronics. By embedding a phase change composite into the base plate of the heat sink, the thermal capacitive effects and excellent heat spreading characteristics of PCM are effectively utilized for thermal management. Experimental and numerical investigations show that the PCM-integrated fin-type heat sink can effectively delay the temperature rise of hot spots, demonstrating its potential for use in convection-limited cooling environments.