Investigation of PT 58 and PEG-6000-based finned heat sinks for thermal management of electronics

Abstract

Maintaining low enough operating temperatures in portable electronic devices is important for reliability, expanded installed functionality, and user comfort. There is promise in employing Phase Change Materials (PCMs) based heat sinks (PCM-based HS) for use in diverse cases. However, PCMs typically have low thermal conductivities; increasing their thermal conductivity and improving cooling performance is therefore essential. A two-dimensional (2D) transient investigation was conducted to study the effect of embedding PCMs into finned HS on the thermal performance to passively cool portable electronic devices with the conjunction of experimental analysis to obtain the thermophysical properties of the PCM. PT 58 and PEG-6000 are the PCMs utilized in this study. The heat removal from the portable electronics can be controlled by embedding these PCMs. The thermal conductivity is improved by designing the heat sink with a 9% thermal conductivity enhancer of metallic fins. Two fin thicknesses (2 and 3 mm) are used in this study to show the effect of changing the fin thickness under different heat rates. Conjugate heat transmission and melting/solidification phenomenon are explored by applying different levels of power using finite-volume-method transient numerical simulations. According to the findings, under a 5 W constant heat rate, there is an optimum reduction of 23.8% in the maximum base temperature when a 3 mm-thick-finned heat sink is employed with PT 58. Also, the maximum enhancement to the melting time is found to be in the PT 58 of around 40.81% by changing the fin thickness from 2 to 3 mm at 5W. Moreover, the time needed to melt both PCMs are higher in case of 3 mm-finned HS. Finally, the 3 mm-thick finned-Heat sink with PT 58 provides the maximum thermal performance for passively cooling PCM-filled electronic devices because a longer melting time results in a cooler base temperature.