Effect of Pore Size of Copper Foam on Thermal Performance of Bio-Based PCM/Copper Foam Composite

Abstract

Abstract Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are the materials that have the distinct ability to absorb or release significant quantities of thermal energy at a nearly constant temperature. As a result, PCMs present themselves as an appropriate material candidate when thermal management systems are considered. Unfortunately, bio-based PCMs suffer from one major drawback that is low thermal conductivity. As a result, bio-based PCMs exhibit an inefficient absorption ability of heat and a low heat utilization efficiency for the cooling application. This paper experimentally investigates the effect of pore size on the thermal performance of bio-based PCM/copper foam composite at a fixed porosity. The three copper foams that are used in the current study have the same dimensions of 106 × 96 × 3 mm, and the pore sizes of them are 20, 35, and 60 pores per inch (PPI). The results indicated that the use of Copper foam to augment the thermal performance of bio-based PCM heat sinks is justified due to lower final temperatures in the temperate profiles and longer time taken to reach critical temperatures for PCM-Copper composite samples when compared to pure PCM. Furthermore, amongst the three pore size configurations investigated, PCM-CF 35 PPI appeared to exhibit the most favorable thermal performance when compared to its 20 PPI, and 60 PPI counterparts.