Experimental study on the effects of different phase change materials for increasing the cooling rate of industrial electronic systems by using a heat exchanger with the specific heat sink

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) are of interest to researchers in the past due to their high latent heat capacity. These materials are found in natural and synthetic forms and have different applications according to the temperature of their state change. Today, electronic components are an integral part of almost all equipment and supplies that are used by humans, such as military, medical, industrial, etc. systems. Continuous use of these equipment causes them to overheat and as a result: error in performance, slowness of the system and burning of parts. Among the systems that cause irreparable damage if the speed and performance decrease is medical and military equipment that is operating in special conditions. In field hospitals or surgical robots, if the temperature of the system is not controlled, the efficiency of the system will decrease and may cause the death of the patient, and in military equipment that is constantly tracking, system failure or slowdown due to the overheating of the set can cause irreparable damage. Therefore, many methods are used in the field of cooling and heat transfer. In this article, an adjustable heat source is used under heat fluxes of 1.7 to 3.3 W with a step of 0.4 W, which is placed inside an aluminum case and is in direct contact with the heat sink. Also, the box is filled with lauric acid with different volume percentages and has been tested. There is a copper pipe around the heat sink, and the water in the pipe has transferred the heat received from the first box to the second box, and there is paraffin wax in the second box with different volume percentages, and then the water fluid is transferred out of the second box through another separate path and cooled by forced airflow. The results show that using the maximum volume percentage of lauric acid in the first box, the time to reach the desired temperature can be increased to 49.7 %, and if the second box with the maximum volume percentage of paraffin wax is added to the system, the time to reach the desired temperature increases by 10.3 % compared to the first state. Also, if the third stage is added to the system, the time to reach the desired temperature increases by 3.3 % compared to the previous state.