Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the thermal performance of a heat sink augmented with phase change material (PCM) for passive electronic cooling applications. The PCM-based heat sink employed N-eicosane as the PCM, which has a suitable melting temperature and high latent heat capaci...

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Main Authors: Vahid Safari, Babak Kamkari, Masoud Zandimagham, Neil Hewitt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-11-01
Series:International Journal of Thermofluids
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202723001696
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author Vahid Safari
Babak Kamkari
Masoud Zandimagham
Neil Hewitt
author_facet Vahid Safari
Babak Kamkari
Masoud Zandimagham
Neil Hewitt
author_sort Vahid Safari
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents a numerical investigation of the thermal performance of a heat sink augmented with phase change material (PCM) for passive electronic cooling applications. The PCM-based heat sink employed N-eicosane as the PCM, which has a suitable melting temperature and high latent heat capacity for electronic cooling applications. A numerical simulation based on the enthalpy-porosity method was developed to analyze the impact of both PCM inclusion and induced natural convection airflow on the base temperature of the heat sink. The operational conditions were selected as three constant heat fluxes of 2, 3, and, 4 kW/m2 and four critical base temperatures of 40, 45, 50, and 55 °C. The influence of fin numbers on the thermal behavior of both PCM-based and conventional (without PCM) heat sinks was also investigated by considering the three fin numbers of 4, 5 and, 6. The PCM integration into the heat sink effectively delayed the rise of base temperature and extended the safe operation time compared to a conventional one. The thermal performance enhancement ratio of the PCM-based heat sink over the conventional heat sink ranged from 1.53 to 2.81, depending on the selected heat flux and critical temperature. The effect of fin numbers on thermal performance was more significant at lower heat fluxes. It was observed that the PCM-based heat sinks achieved a higher time-averaged heat transfer coefficient than the conventional heat sinks, and this coefficient increased with the heat flux and decreased with the fin number. For both PCM-based and conventional heat sinks, it was observed that increasing the fin number reduces the heat transfer coefficient value due to the suppressing effect of fins on natural convection current. The results demonstrate the potential of using passive PCM-based heat sinks for improving the reliability and efficiency of electronic devices compared to conventional heat sinks.
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spelling doaj.art-56a4a6d4e7ac48d4aceeffc873b9795d2023-12-07T05:30:48ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Thermofluids2666-20272023-11-0120100454Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulationVahid Safari0Babak Kamkari1Masoud Zandimagham2Neil Hewitt3Department of Thermal and Fluids Engineering, Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, SpainCentre for Sustainable Technologies, Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, UK; Corresponding author.Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahre-Rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IranCentre for Sustainable Technologies, Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, UKThis paper presents a numerical investigation of the thermal performance of a heat sink augmented with phase change material (PCM) for passive electronic cooling applications. The PCM-based heat sink employed N-eicosane as the PCM, which has a suitable melting temperature and high latent heat capacity for electronic cooling applications. A numerical simulation based on the enthalpy-porosity method was developed to analyze the impact of both PCM inclusion and induced natural convection airflow on the base temperature of the heat sink. The operational conditions were selected as three constant heat fluxes of 2, 3, and, 4 kW/m2 and four critical base temperatures of 40, 45, 50, and 55 °C. The influence of fin numbers on the thermal behavior of both PCM-based and conventional (without PCM) heat sinks was also investigated by considering the three fin numbers of 4, 5 and, 6. The PCM integration into the heat sink effectively delayed the rise of base temperature and extended the safe operation time compared to a conventional one. The thermal performance enhancement ratio of the PCM-based heat sink over the conventional heat sink ranged from 1.53 to 2.81, depending on the selected heat flux and critical temperature. The effect of fin numbers on thermal performance was more significant at lower heat fluxes. It was observed that the PCM-based heat sinks achieved a higher time-averaged heat transfer coefficient than the conventional heat sinks, and this coefficient increased with the heat flux and decreased with the fin number. For both PCM-based and conventional heat sinks, it was observed that increasing the fin number reduces the heat transfer coefficient value due to the suppressing effect of fins on natural convection current. The results demonstrate the potential of using passive PCM-based heat sinks for improving the reliability and efficiency of electronic devices compared to conventional heat sinks.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202723001696PCM-based heat sinkNatural convectionPhase change material (PCM)Heat transfer
spellingShingle Vahid Safari
Babak Kamkari
Masoud Zandimagham
Neil Hewitt
Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
International Journal of Thermofluids
PCM-based heat sink
Natural convection
Phase change material (PCM)
Heat transfer
title Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
title_full Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
title_fullStr Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
title_full_unstemmed Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
title_short Transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material: A numerical simulation
title_sort transient thermal behavior of a passive heat sink integrated with phase change material a numerical simulation
topic PCM-based heat sink
Natural convection
Phase change material (PCM)
Heat transfer
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202723001696
work_keys_str_mv AT vahidsafari transientthermalbehaviorofapassiveheatsinkintegratedwithphasechangematerialanumericalsimulation
AT babakkamkari transientthermalbehaviorofapassiveheatsinkintegratedwithphasechangematerialanumericalsimulation
AT masoudzandimagham transientthermalbehaviorofapassiveheatsinkintegratedwithphasechangematerialanumericalsimulation
AT neilhewitt transientthermalbehaviorofapassiveheatsinkintegratedwithphasechangematerialanumericalsimulation