Experimental Investigations on Thermal Performance of PCM Based Heat Sink for Passive Cooling of Electronic Components

In the present experimental study, an attempt has been made to study the efficient thermal management system based on phase change material for cooling of portable electronic devices. Paraffin wax is used as PCM to keep the temperature of electronic devices below critical temperature by absorbing thermal energy released by electronic components. PCM is filled inside the heat sink made of aluminum. Four different configuration of heat sink such as unfinned heat sink filled with pure PCM, two finned heat sink filled with pure PCM, unfinned heat sink filled with MF-PCM composite and two finned heat sink filled with MF-PCM composite are used in the present investigation to enhance the operating time of heat sink to reach critical set point temperature. Unfinned heat sink filled with and without PCM is used for baseline comparison. Effect of volume fraction of PCM, effect of heat flux and enhancement in operating time are reported in this study. Enhancement ratios are obtained for various heat sink configurations. The comparison of thermal performance of different configuration shows that higher enhancement ratio and effective thermal control is obtained with two finned metal foam heat sink.