Pore-scale heat transfer of heat sink filled with stacked 2D metal fiber-PCM composite

Effective thermal management is essential for guaranteeing the working efficiency and safety of several industrial devices. Due to its excellent heat absorption characteristic, microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) is promising for thermal management system. However, the drawback of MEPCM's low thermal conductivity seriously hinders the heat dissipation rate from heat sink. Based on their high thermal conductivity and effective interconnected anisotropic heat transfer channels, metal fibers could be inserted into MEPCM to ameliorate its corresponding heat transfer capability. In the current work, novel stacked 2D metal fibers are designed and coupled with MEPCM in order to improve the thermal performance of heat sink. Based on the numerically reconstructed metal fibers, the thermal performance of heat sink assembly filled with MEPCM-metal fiber composite is investigated through pore-scale lattice Boltzmann modelling. When the latent heat of MEPCM is available, the heat sink assembly using anisotropic stacked 2D metal fibers has a less temperature rise compared with that using random metal fibers because of the consolidated heat transfer rate in a desired vertical direction. Furthermore, for an intermittent working heat sink, the MEPCM-stacked 2D metal fiber composite with high anisotropic degree exhibits more obvious advantage on its thermal management owing to the periodically recharged latent heat for further heat absorption.

Automated summary

Effective thermal management is crucial for industrial devices, with MEPCM promising but hindered by low thermal conductivity. Inserting metal fibers improves heat transfer capability, with stacked 2D metal fibers showing superior performance in thermal management due to their anisotropic heat transfer channels.