Experimental study on the thermal performance of PCMs based heat sink using higher alcohol/graphite foam

Abstract

• The thermal performance of higher alcohol/ graphite foam composite PCM heat sinks. • The dimensionless analysis results can predict the temperature of the heat sink. • The equivalent heat capacity reaches 102.32 J/K, and the equivalent thermal conductivity is 54.22 W/(m·K). • The composite PCM based heat sink has a 24% extension effect on temperature control duration. • A simplified reference method in engineering design and application of PCMs. This study explores the thermal performance of heat sinks using higher alcohol and higher alcohol/graphite foam as phase change materials(PCMs). We applied different heat fluxes to the heat sinks. The thermal performance of two heat sinks was analyzed by comparing the heating characteristics and equivalent thermal physical properties. Then dimensionless experimental data were obtained to describe the uniform heating characteristics of heating sinks. The results show that the advantage of higher alcohol/graphite foam based heat sink on temperature control over higher alcohol based heat sink is reflected in the latent heat stage. With 90 °C as target temperature, the composite PCM (CPCM) based heat sink has a 24% extension effect on temperature control duration than the higher alcohol based heat sink. Analysis of the fitted dimensionless data can accurately predict the relationship between temperature and heating time of the CPCM based heat sink at different heat fluxes, which is a simplified reference method in engineering design and application of PCMs.