Experimental investigation for thermal performance enhancement of various heat sinks using Al2O3 NePCM for cooling of electronic devices

Electronic devices are being used extensively for different applications, where the thermal management of these devices is still a critical challenge due to rapid miniaturization, high heat flux and constantly rising temperature. Phase change materials (PCMs) based thermal manage-ment is adopted, but the low thermal conductivity limits their use in temperature-controlled electronic devices. Nano-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) can advance the heat transfer rate (HTr), decrease the temperature, and increase the operating time of the electronic device. The present study compares the thermal performances (TP) of three different heat sinks (simple, circular pin finned and copper foam) with NePCM (RT54HC/Al2O3) and varying Al2O3 nanoparticles concentrations (0.15-0.25 wt%) and heat fluxes (0.98-2.94 kW/m2) to optimize the overall device performance. The results show that at a heat flux (HF) of 0.98 kW/m2 and 0.25 wt % of Al2O3 nanoparticles (NPs), the base temperature of simple, circular pin finned and Cu foam heat sink was reduced by 21.3%, 25.03%, and 36.2%, respectively. The Cu foam heat sink (HS) has exceptional TP than the HSs without Cu foam. Accordingly, NePCMs are highly recommended in electronic devices for an optimized thermal management system.

Automated summary

This study compares the thermal performances of three different heat sinks and concludes that nano-enhanced phase change materials can improve heat transfer rate, reduce temperature, and increase the operating time of electronic devices. The results show that the copper foam heat sink has exceptional thermal performance compared to others. Therefore, nano-enhanced phase change materials are highly recommended for an optimized thermal management system in electronic devices.