Abstract
In this study, the effect of the presence of horizontal fins on the safe operating time (SOT) of the PCM filled heat sink was examined. The effects of the number of horizontal fins, as well as fins length on SOT at different aspect ratios, was investigated. Horizontal fins, owing to their high thermal conductivity, cause uniformity in temperature distribution and improve the heat sink thermal conductivity (positive effect). Incorporating horizontal fins reduces the PCM volume fraction which consequently diminishes the ability of the heat sink to absorb the thermal energy (negative effect). The competition between the former effect and the latter determines the efficacy of adding horizontal fins in the PCM filled heat sinks. As the number of horizontal fins increases up to five, the positive effect is superior to the negative one which in turn enlarges the safe operation time. By the further increase in the number of fins, the negative effect prevailed over the positive effect and therefore the safe operation time diminished. As the heat sink aspect ratio increased, convection heat transfer efficacy becomes more apparent. In this case, it is recommended to use horizontal fins with shorter lengths so that the PCM movement is not disturbed.
Highlights
Phase change materials (PCMs) have a high ability to store thermal energy [1,2]
By loading fins to the PCM, heat transfer within the PCM can be enhanced to the objective function
The objective function is different for various applications
Summary
Phase change materials (PCMs) have a high ability to store thermal energy [1,2]. Usually, they have high phase change enthalpy, during the phase change, absorb a great amount of energy at the low-temperature range (phase change temperature) [3]. Ren et al [6] performed a numerical study on the potential of microencapsulated phase change material (MEPCM) on holding the temperature increase in electronic devices They used expanded graphite (EG) nanoparticles with fin to enhance the thermal conductivity of MEPCM, but preliminary results showed that fin improves the thermal conductivity of the heat sink, it reduces the latent heat storage capability. Adding fins rises the system weight as well as the reduction in thermal energy storage potential (negative effect) due to the decrease in volume of materials with high phase change enthalpy (reduced PCM). The thermal behavior of a PCM-based heat sink in the presence of horizontal fins was numerically investigated These types of heat sink can be effective in electronic cooling applications. The competition between the positive and negative effects of adding fins will be discussed
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