Experimental investigation of n-eicosane based circular pin-fin heat sinks for passive cooling of electronic devices

Efficient thermal management (TM) based on phase change material (PCM) is adopted for the cooling of portable electronic devices. PCM namely n-eicosane is employed to absorb thermal energy released by such electronics. Four different configurations of circular pin-fin heat sinks with fin thickness of 2 mm, 3 mm and 4 mm including a no fin heat sink (used as a reference heat sink) were adopted. Pin-fins were made of aluminum due to light weight and good thermal conductivity to act as a thermal conductivity enhancers (TCEs). Pin-fin heat sinks of constant (9%) volume fraction of TCE are filled with four volumetric fractions of PCM to explore the best amount of PCM volume. A wide range of heat flux is provided at the heat sink base and the effect of fin configuration, PCM volume, latent heat phase, power densities, thermal capacity and thermal conductance are reported in this study. Three different critical set point temperatures (SPTs) are selected for this investigation. Enhancement ratios are reported against various PCM fractions to illustrate the thermal performance for passive cooling. The results show that 3 mm fin thickness heat sink has best enhancement in operation for TM module controlling temperature of electronic devices. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.