Numerical investigation of a novel phase change material based heat sink with double sided spiral fins

Abstract

Poor solidification or energy release rate from PCM has been a long-withstanding problem of PCM heat sinks which prevents their application to wide range of problems. The present study aims to simultaneously improve the energy release and storage rate of PCM by employing a novel PCM heat sink with double-sided spiral fins. The novel configuration optimizes the energy stored by the module in latent and sensible form thus improving both energy storage and release rate in successive operating cycles, unlike previous studies which solely focuses on either of these rates. Such a configuration will ensure that the system reaches the initial conditions before the start of successive cycle. The effect of various parameters of spiral fins on the heat sink's performance is numerically investigated and it is observed that increasing fin diameter (2 mm ≤ dfin ≤ 4 mm) and fin length (1 mm ≤ Lfin ≤ 3 mm) reduces the critical temperature of source and the time taken by the system to reach initial conditions. Best configuration of spiral fins is then compared with traditional pin fins to highlight that the critical temperature and time taken to reach initial conditions reduces by 7 K (2%) and 19 mins (38%) respectively.