A comparison of the performance of constant and dual height pin fins in phase change material cooling technique

Author(s):  
Maibam Romio Singh ◽  
Asis Giri

Abstract This experimental study explores the passive cooling of electronic devices using phase change materials (PCM). Pin fins configurations made of aluminium are considered as thermal conductive enhancers and eicosane as the PCM for the study. The experiments are carried out for five different heat fluxes ranging from 1.17 kW/m2 to 2.35 kW/m2 corresponding to a power level of 4 W to 8 W. The effect of number of fins, type of fins and volumes of PCM has been reviewed. It has been observed that the introduction of fins enhances the heat transfer and more elongation in operational time is achieved in case of dual height heat sinks. Also, volume of PCM, number of fins and heat fluxes directly affect in maintaining the device within a favorable temperature range. All the experiments are performed in a temperature controlled room to avoid environment fluctuation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Collier S. Miers ◽  
Amy Marconnet

Abstract Phase change materials (PCMs) are effective at storing thermal energy and are attractive for use in electronics to smooth temperature peaks during periods of high demand; however, the use of PCMs has been somewhat limited due to the poor thermal properties of the materials. Here, we propose a design for a tunable composite PCM heat sink for passive thermal management in electronic systems and develop an improved test platform to directly compare performance between different designs and PCMs. The composite design leverages high conductivity pathways, which are machined into aluminum heat sinks, and back-filled with PCMs. Two package sizes are considered with several internal fin structures. All designs are evaluated using a test platform with realistic power profiles, controlled interfacial loading, and in situ temperature measurement. The composite PCM heat sinks are benchmarked against solid aluminum packages of the same size. This study focuses on three commercially available PCMs. Performance is evaluated based on (1) the time it takes the test heater chip below each composite PCM package to reach the cut-off temperature of 95 °C and (2) the period of a full melt-regeneration cycle. A range of heat fluxes are considered in this study spanning 6.8–14.5 W cm−2. The isokite design with PlusICE S70 extends the time to reach 95 °C by 36.2% when compared to the solid package, while weighing 17.3% less, making it advantageous for mobile devices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Josef Richmond ◽  
Lesley Spencer ◽  
Tommy Tran ◽  
Evan Williams

Firefighters are exposed to high risk scenarios in which the prevention of extreme heat injuries is largely dependent on the effectiveness of their protective clothing. The following meta-study examines contemporary literature to determine the usefulness of phase change materials (PCM’s) in improving the effectiveness of the current firefighter protective clothing (FFPC) model in order to better protect firefighters. The time- temperature for multiple PCM’s in environments with low, medium and high heat fluxes (taken as 2.5-5 kW/m2 for 700 seconds, 10-15 kW/m2 for 300 seconds and 20-40 kW/m2for 30 seconds respectively) were compared in terms of the rate of temperature increase and final temperature. The study found that PCM I produced the best temperature reduction in a low flux, PCM K did so in a medium flux, and PCM B did so in a high flux. The study also found that overall the PCMs were most effective in a low flux, therefore further study should be directed towards creating PCMs that are more effective in high-flux environments. Keywords: Phase Change Material; Fire Fighter Protective Clothing; Heat Flux


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha ◽  
K. Srinivasan ◽  
P. Dutta

This paper deals with phase change material (PCM), used in conjunction with thermal conductivity enhancer (TCE), as a means of thermal management of electronic systems. Eicosane is used as PCM, while aluminium pin or plate fins are used as TCE. The test section considered in all cases is a 42×42mm2 base with a TCE height of 25mm. An electrical heater at the heat sink base is used to simulate the heat generation in electronic chips. Various volumetric fractions of TCE in the conglomerate of PCM and TCE are considered. The case with 8% TCE volume fraction was found to have the best thermal performance. With this volume fraction of TCE, the effects of fin dimension and fin shape are also investigated. It is found that a large number of small cross-sectional area fins is preferable. A numerical model is also developed to enable an interpretation of experimental results.


Author(s):  
Shankar Krishnan ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella

A transient thermal analysis is performed to investigate thermal control of power semiconductors using phase change materials, and to compare the performance of this approach to that of copper heat sinks. Both the melting of the phase change material under a transient power spike input, as well as the resolidification process, are considered. Phase change materials of different kinds (paraffin waxes and metallic alloys) are considered, with and without the use of thermal conductivity enhancers. Simple expressions for the melt depth, melting time and temperature distribution are presented in terms of the dimensions of the heat sink and the thermophysical properties of the phase change material, to aid in the design of passive thermal control systems. The simplified analytical expressions are verified against more complex numerical simulations, and are shown to be excellent tools for design calculations. The suppression of junction temperatures achieved by the use of phase change materials when compared to the performance with copper heat sinks is illustrated. Merits of employing phase change materials for pulsed power electronics cooling applications are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Hasan ◽  
Hassan Hejase ◽  
Shaimaa Abdelbaqi ◽  
Ali Assi ◽  
Mohammed Hamdan

2010 ◽  
Vol 297-301 ◽  
pp. 154-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Fiedler ◽  
Irina V. Belova ◽  
Andreas Öchsner ◽  
Graeme E. Murch

Heat sinks enable the storage of energy that would otherwise be lost, thus ensuring significant energy-savings and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Heat sinks also play the major role in the efficient temperature control of devices such as batteries. In principle, any material can act as a heat sink – traditionally, copper is used for many applications. However, copper is relatively expensive, has a high density and only a limited energy storage capacity. In contrast, a phase-change material (PCM) allows in effect an additional storage of energy through its phase change thus greatly increasing the achievable energy density. The aim of this work is the numerical analysis of the transient heat transfer in composite heat sinks containing phase-change materials. For the first time, a recently formulated Lattice Monte Carlo Method is applied to determine temperature distributions and the amount of energy transferred versus time in phase change materials.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Krishnan ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella

A transient thermal analysis is performed to investigate thermal control of power semiconductors using phase change materials, and to compare the performance of this approach to that of copper heat sinks. Both the melting of the phase change material under a transient power spike input, as well as the resolidification process, are considered. Phase change materials of different kinds (paraffin waxes and metallic alloys) are considered, with and without the use of thermal conductivity enhancers. Simple expressions for the melt depth, melting time and temperature distribution are presented in terms of the dimensions of the heat sink and the thermophysical properties of the phase change material, to aid in the design of passive thermal control systems. The simplified analytical expressions are verified against numerical simulations, and are shown to be excellent tools for design calculations. The suppression of junction temperatures achieved by the use of phase change materials when compared to the performance with copper heat sinks is illustrated. Merits of employing phase change materials for pulsed power electronics cooling applications are discussed.


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