Numerical Investigation on Thermal Performance of PCM-Based Hybrid Microchannel Heat Sinks for Electronics Cooling Application

Heatsinks have a prime role in the thermal management of energy systems and electronic devices. Miniaturization and the high power requirement of modern electronic equipment make them more compact and more heat-generating. For the efficient operation of modern electronic equipment, efficient thermal management system is required. Microchannel heatsinks (MCHS) are the best choice for efficient thermal management of electronic devices because of their high compactness and large heat-dissipating capacity. The attention of most of the researchers is on the improvement of the performance of the MCHS. In the present work, the augmentation of the performance of MCHS by incorporating the phase change material (PCM) was analysed. Six novel designs of PCM-based hybrid MCHS are modelled using ANSYS FLUENT. The computational model implemented for the present work was validated with both experimental and numerical works in the literature, and a good agreement was observed. The performance of six models of PCM-based MCHSs is analysed and compared with the heatsink without PCM. The heatsink model with the best thermal performance is presented. The variation of thermal resistance, liquid fraction, and temperature uniformity coefficient (TUC) with Reynolds number are analysed. A maximum of 15.26% lower TUC and 7.3% lower thermal resistance was found in hybrid MCHS with PCM compared to the MCHS without PCM. The influence of the liquid fraction and position of the PCM on the performance of MCHS were also studied.

Automated summary

Heatsinks play a crucial role in thermal management, and microchannel heatsinks (MCHS) are considered the best choice for managing heat in electronic devices. This study improved the performance of MCHS by incorporating phase change material (PCM), resulting in the identification of the best performing heatsink model. The study also investigated the effects of liquid fraction and PCM position on the performance.