Effect of T-shaped fin arrangements on the temperature control performance of a phase change material heat sink

Abstract

The control of operating temperature in phase change material (PCM) heat sinks is restricted by their low thermal conductivity. The present study proposes a novel T-shaped fin strategy, targeting to improve the thermal management capability of PCM heat sinks in the field of electronic devices, i.e., the originality behind is that heat flux from the heated surface can be transported to the solid phase region by T-shaped fins over a longer distance. Based on the background of photovoltaic cell thermal management, a numerical calculation was conducted to investigate the temperature control performance of PCM heat sinks with different T-shaped fin layouts, which was compared with heat sinks without fins and with rectangular fins. The key discoveries indicate that the melting front in the heat sink cavity was severely influenced by the fins, which first suppressed and then enhanced natural convection in the melting process and improved the PCM temperature uniformity. Compared to the unfinned and rectangular fin systems, the employment of T-shaped fins could reduce melting time respectively by up to 25.5% and 14.5% (achieved by case 8), and lower wall temperature respectively by maximum values of 18.9 °C and 4.9 °C (obtained by case 12).