Thermal Performance Analysis of Various Heat Sinks Based on Alumina NePCM for Passive Cooling of Electronic Components: An Experimental Study

Abstract

In the modern digital world, electronic devices are being widely employed for various applications where thermal performance represents a significant technical challenge due to continued miniaturization, high heat generated in the system, and non-uniform high-temperature causing failure. Phase change materials (PCMs) owing to the immense heat of fusion are primarily considered for thermal management, but their insulating properties hedge their applications in electronics cooling. Nano-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) have the ability to improve the thermal conductivity of PCM, decrease system temperature and escalate the operating time of devices. Accordingly, the current study focused on the experimental investigations for the thermal performance of three heat sinks (HS) with different configurations such as a simple heat sink (SHS), a square pin-fins heat sink (SpfHS), and Cu foam integrated heat sink (CufmHS) with various alumina nanoparticles mass concentrations (0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 wt%) incorporated in PCM (RT-54HC) and at heat flux (0.98–2.94 kW/m2). All HSs reduced the base temperature with the insertion of NePCM compared to the empty SHS. The experimental results identified that the thermal performance of CufmHS was found to be superior in reducing base temperature and enhancing working time at two different setpoint temperatures (SPTs). The maximum drop in base temperature was 36.95%, and a 288% maximum working time enhancement was observed for CufmHS. Therefore, NePCMs are highly recommended for the thermal management of the electronic cooling system.