Phase Change Material Heat Sink Research Articles

A morphology optimization of enclosure shape of low melting point alloy-based PCM heat sink

The enclosure shape of the phase change material (PCM) container is an important factor affecting the thermal performance of PCM heat sinks. A novel morphology optimization method is developed and used to optimize the enclosure shape of the low melting point alloy (LMPA) based PCM heat sink. The working process of the LMPA heat sink is firstly simulated with a simplified 2D numerical model. Then, morphology operations (erosion and dilation) are performed to update the material distribution in the design domain based on the simulation results. Through alternative execution of simulation and morphology operations, the desired optimal enclosure shape is obtained, and the optimization results are further experimentally validated. It is shown that the proposed optimization method can obtain better optimization results than traditional methods. With a fixed heat flux of 30 kW/m2, the experimental temperature rise rate of the optimized LMPA heat sink is about 1.59 °C/min, which is 57.9 % lower than the theoretical minimum temperature rise rate of the corresponding rectangular LMPA heat sink. The experimental protection time of the optimized LMPA heat sink is about 924 s with a safety temperature of 120 °C, which is 31.3 % longer than the theoretical maximum protection time of the corresponding rectangular heat sink.

Energy impact of heat pipe-assisted microencapsulated phase change material heat sink for photovoltaic and thermoelectric generator hybrid panel

As the importance of energy saving continues to increase owing to climate change, various Internet of Things sensors, related to building temperatures, humidity, and energy usage, are being employed in buildings, such as in building energy management systems. Aiming to satisfy the rapidly increasing electric energy demands of buildings, studies have combined various building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) and thermoelectric generators (TEGs) to recover sunlight and heat wasted from building envelopes. However, in most previous studies, active methods for heat rejection were applied to increase the temperature difference between both ends of the TEG and cooling of the solar panel. The actual constructability problems, such as leakage problems, were insufficiently addressed. Therefore, this study proposed a BIPV-TEG system with increased constructability and heat dissipation efficiency using a heat pipe and microencapsulated phase change material (mPCM). In addition, this study analyzed the thermal behaviors and improvements in power generation efficiency through field tests by manufacturing a prototype. The results of the outdoor experiment indicated that the BIPV-TEG-PCM prototype improved power generation efficiency by approximately 2% in the intermediate season and 2.5% in the summer relative to the efficiency of a general PV panel. Moreover, using a single TEG, approximately 3.06 Wh of the heat wasted in the building envelope can be recovered as a form of electricity annually.

THE EFFECT OF USING PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS AND EXAMINING THE ASPECT RATIO IN AN AIR-COOLED SYSTEM OF A PLATE BATTERY CONNECTED TO A SOLAR SYSTEM

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in the electronics industry to store electrical energy. One of the challenges with these batteries is that they heat up during operation, which can damage the battery. For this reason, this paper simulates the cooling process of a plate-type (BTP) lithium-ion battery pack. To control the temperature of the battery (T-B), a laminar air flow and a phase change material (PCM) are used. The PCM is placed in a heat sink around the battery. This evaluation is performed temporarily for four different dimensions of the PCM pack. The hot outlet of this system is used to provide the thermal energy required for a small residential building (THE) at a mild temperature. The BTP was also simulated using COMSOL. The results show that the use of larger heat sinks can increase the maximum (MAX) and average (AVE) temperature of the battery. The minimum T-B occurs at different times for the smaller PCM heat sinks. Also, when using a heatsink with a larger PCM volume, it takes longer for the PCM to fully solidify. A BTP with 5 or 50 battery cells can provide up to 3% or 30% of the THE required for the building.

Zero-cooling energy thermoelectric system by phase change material heat sink integrated with porous copper foam

Active cooling of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) by fans or water pumps imposes cooling energy reducing net power generation in TEG systems. This study aims to make zero-cooling energy TEG systems by integration of low temperature phase change material (PCM) and porous copper foam on cold side of the TEG. In this design, air fan is eliminated. To study the proposed system under transient heat input, the TEG system was exposed to continues and dynamic heat flows. Results of this study show that, the proposed fanless heat sink is an effective and alternative cooling solution for TEG systems. Utilization of the copper foam in the PCM not only reduced cold side temperature of the TEG by 11.3 %, but it also prevents hot side of the TEG from overheating. With this cooling technique, output power of the TEG increased 53.5 % compared to conventional TEG systems operating with fan. The results of this study provide a guideline for design of self-sufficient and autonomous TEG systems with zero-cooling energy used for energy harvesting for sensors and actuators under dynamic heat sources.

Evaluation of nanostructured GNP and CuO compositions in PCM-based heat sinks for photovoltaic systems

Passive cooling of photovoltaic systems through phase change material has been demonstrated as an effective method of improving the electrical efficiency of the systems. PCM can absorb significant quantities of thermal energy while keeping a constant temperature. However, its low thermal conductivity has adversely affected its application in thermal regulation of PV systems. In the present study, four types of nanomaterials were employed to produce nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM) heat sinks. The effectiveness of the nanomaterials in cooling the PV panels was also evaluated. Moreover, graphene nanoplatelet (GNP), copper oxide (CuO), their physical and chemical mixtures were separately incorporated with Polyethylene Glycol 1500 as the PCM for the first time. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity, melting point, latent heat of fusion, and viscosity of NePCM with different weight fractions of nanomaterials were assessed. The results revealed that, compared with pure PCM, the chemical mixture of GNP-CuO 3 % NePCM had the highest thermal conductivity enhancement of 91.81 % and the lowest dynamic viscosity increase of 14.83 %. In addition, compared with the pure-PCM heat sink, outdoor experimental tests of PV-NePCM systems using a chemical mixture of GNP-CuO 3 wt% revealed a reduction of 6.6 °C in the temperature of the PV surface and a 3 % increment in its electricity generation.

A novel mechanism for thermal management at the cold side of a pulsed two-stage thermoelectric micro-cooler with different PCM heat sink shapes

A new mechanism for thermal management at the cold side of a pulsed two-stage thermoelectric micro-cooler (Two-stage μTEC) is presented. The Two-stage μTEC operates under different electric current values at each stage and uses a phase change material (PCM) in different heat sink shapes for temperature control in the cold junction. A geometric factor γ is defined for designing an optimal heat sink based on reducing the cross-sectional area of the second stage thermoelements. The aim is to save the amount of PCM used and keep the cold side temperature (Tc) constant for as long as possible. This thermoelectric device is proposed to treat skin diseases and is suitable for use in cryomassage. A one-dimensional numerical model is considered in the system’s heat transfer, and cooling by natural convection on the hot side is considered. PCM is used as a cooling substance because it can absorb large amounts of latent heat at a nearly constant temperature. The influence of the electric current pulse and the γ geometric relationship on the micro-cooler are analyzed to determine the optimum operating values that allow a constant temperature of 243 K to be reached in the cold junction. The temperature of the cold side is kept constant by using different electric currents in each stage for the geometric factor γ=4 during Δtpulse=95.7s. On the other hand, the optimization of the heat sink, the geometric factor

Effect of phase change temperatures and orientation on the thermal performance of a miniaturized PCM heat sink coupled heat pipe

ABSTRACT This study reports the results of experimental and numerical investigations on the thermal performance of a miniaturized phase change material (PCM) heat sink coupled with heat pipe. Initial studies are conducted on two different configurations of PCM heat sink with heat pipe (i) HSHP (i.e., PCM coupled at evaporator of heat pipe) (ii) HPHS (i.e., PCM coupled at condenser of the heat pipe). The results showed a superiority of HSHP over HPHS by up to 98.8% in the charging cycle. Experiments are conducted on HSHP with different melting temperature PCMs. The HSHP with high melting temperature PCM showed high thermal performance.

Nanofluid-PCM heat sink for building integrated concentrated photovoltaic with thermal energy storage and recovery capability

A new configuration of phase change material (PCM) heat sink has been developed to be combined with a building integrated concentrated photovoltaic (BICPV) system. This new proposed system includes PCM encapsulated in aluminum pack and immersed in nanofluid container to improve thermal conductivity. A comprehensive numerical model was validated and simulated to evaluate thermal and electrical performance of the proposed system for both passive and active cooling conditions. Two different configurations of nanofluid-PCM enclosures with single PCM pack or multi-smaller packs were compared with conventional BICPV-PCM system. Melting and solidification of PCM were also studied with solar concentration ratio of 5. In passive cooling, single-pack configuration regulated the silicon temperature of CPV below 78 °C with more uniform temperature distribution. Whereas the multi-packs configuration demonstrated 97% phase transition to liquid PCM which provided the highest stored thermal energy. The performance improvement would be attributed to the enhancement of thermal conductivity and natural convection of nanofluid in PCM container. Furthermore, in active cooling condition, the silicon temperature controlled under 43 °C with uniform distribution. The nanofluid flow could be solidified up to 97% and 90% of initially melted PCM after 60 min for multi-packs and single-pack configurations, respectively.

Temperature Regulation of Photovoltaic Cells using Phase Change Material Heat Sinks Integrated with Metal Foam

This article investigates the cooling performance of Phase Change Material “PCM”-heat sinks integrated with porous metal that are attached to PV cells. Numerical simulations were carried out for a 2-dimensional configuration of a PCM-based heat sink subjected to uniform heat flux of 900W/m2 on the upper side and heat convection takes place at all other sides with a uniform convective heat transfer coefficient of 10 W/m2.°C. Two different PCMs were considered (n-Eicosane and RT44HC) and three values of metal foam porosity “e” were chosen as well (ε = 1.00, 0.97 and 0.90, where ε = 1.00 refers to no-metal foam case). Results showed that addition of metal foam enhances the cooling performance of PCM-based heat sinks. In the n-Eicosane based heat sinks, the PV-surface temperature was reduced by 6.31 °C and 7.00 °C for the 97% and 90% porosities respectively when compared to the no-metal foam case (100% porosity). On the other hand, in the RT44HC based heat sinks the PV-surface temperature was reduced by 5.50 °C and 6.15 °C for the 97% and 90% porosities respectively when compared to the no-metal foam case (100% porosity).

Influence of the Fin Shape on Heat Transport in Phase Change Material Heat Sink with Constant Heat Loads

Nowadays, the heat transfer enhancement in electronic cabinets with heat-generating elements can be achieved using the phase change materials and finned heat sink. The latter allows to improve the energy transference surface and to augment the cooling effects for the heat sources. The present research deals with numerical analysis of phase change material behavior in an electronic cabinet with an energy-generating element. For an intensification of heat removal, the complex finned heat sink with overall width of 10 cm was introduced, having the complicated shape of the fins with width of 0.33 cm and height H = 5 cm. The fatty acid with melting temperature of 46 °C was considered as a phase change material. The considered two-dimensional challenge was formulated employing the non-primitive variables and solved using the finite difference method. Impacts of the volumetric heat flux of heat-generating element and sizes of the fins on phase change material circulation and energy transference within the chamber were studied. It was shown that the presence of transverse ribs makes it possible to accelerate the melting process and reduce the source temperature by more than 12 °C at a heat load of 1600 W/m. It should also be noted that the nature of melting depends on the hydrodynamics of the melt, so the horizontal partitions reduce the intensity of convective heat transfer between the upper part of the region and the lower part.

A novel 24-h day-night operational solar thermoelectric generator using phase change materials

To improve the energy matrix using solar energy, the intermittency and variation of the solar resource must be resolved for effective implementation of solar operated electricity generation systems. Solar thermoelectric generators (STEG) can be used for electricity generation in non-grid and grid connected applications. However, to use the STEG systems extensively, the limitations of lower conversion efficiency of around 7%, effective passive thermal management of the thermoelectric generator (TEG) and storage of residual heat of the thermoelectric generator need to be solved. In this study, a conceptual theoretical model of latent heat storage and cooling system (LHSCS) is proposed for the effective thermal management and enhanced electricity generation from the solar thermoelectric generator. The numerical model of the proposed system has been developed in COMSOL Multiphysics software for the climatic conditions of the Atacama Desert, Chile. The effect of phase change material (PCM) volume, heat sink and container geometry on the performance of the system has been studied. It is found that the desert locations are the best geographical locations for operating the solar thermoelectric generator coupled latent heat storage and cooling system due to higher solar radiation resource and favorable environmental conditions. The results showed that with 6 kg of phase change material, a temperature difference of 120 °C has been achieved between the hot and cold sides of the thermoelectric generator without using an active cooling system and the stored residual heat in phase change material generated 0.6% more electricity during the off-sunshine hours. Further, it has been found that the natural convection has a relevant impact on the melting of the phase change material and must be considered in the designing of a latent heat container. This proposed numerical model can be used to demonstrate the solar thermoelectric generator coupled latent heat storage and cooling system for any geographical location.

Phase Change Material Heat Sink for Transient Cooling of High-Power Devices

This paper reports a heat sink that uses a composite phase change material (PCM) made from a copper foam infused with a Field's metal eutectic alloy that melts at 60°C to achieve both high cooling and the ability to buffer transient temperature spikes. We integrate this composite PCM heat sink with circuit board mounted gallium nitride (GaN) devices that dissipate heat flux as large as 50 W/cm2. To design the PCM heat sink and understand its behavior, we developed a three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) simulation of the integrated assembly. We fabricated and characterized five composite PCM heat sink devices, where each device had a different PCM thermal buffer. The thermal buffers had varying Cu volume fraction and thickness. The PCM heat sinks were integrated with top-cooled or bottom-cooled GaN devices on printed circuit boards. Measurements of PCM heat sink performance showed that during phase change, the device junction temperature was reduced by 10-20°C compared to a solid Cu reference heat sink, depending on the device heating power which was as high as 6 W. The PCM heat sink cooling time was increased by up to 2X compared to a solid Cu heat sink of the same geometry. Finally, we developed and validated a reduced order resistance-capacitance (RC) circuit model that can guide the design of future PCM heat sinks. This work demonstrates the potential for PCM heat sinks to be integrated with high power GaN devices and shows methods for the design and modeling of PCM heat sinks.

Thermal performance of phase change material–based heat sink for passive cooling of electronic components: An experimental study

SummaryPresent paper reports the thermal performance of various phase change material (PCM)‐based heat sinks during melting process for cooling of portable electronic devices through experimental investigations. Heat sink configurations include unfinned with pure PCM, finned with pure PCM, unfinned with metallic foam (MF)–PCM composite, and finned with MF–PCM composite. Paraffin wax is used as PCM, and tests have been carried out for various input heat flux values (1.3, 2.0, and 2.7 kW/m2) at different volume fractions of PCM (0, 0.50, 0.86, and 1). The effect of various parameters such as PCM volume fraction, heat sink type, and heat flux on the stretching of operating time to achieve a set point temperature (SPT) is studied. Results obtained from the current experimental investigation are compared with the existing test results. Also, unfinned heat sink without and with PCM is used for baseline comparison. The evolution and propagation of melt front inside the heat sink are studied through photographic observation. The enhancement in operating time is found to vary with the SPT and heat flux values. MF–PCM‐based heat sinks are more advantageous for higher value of input heat flux (2.0 and 2.7 kW/m2). For q″ = 1.3 and 2.0 kW/m2, four‐finned MF–PCM‐based heat sink exhibits better performance; while three‐finned MF–PCM‐based heat sink shows best performance at q″ = 2.7 kW/m2. The highest enhancement ratio of ~2.97 is obtained at 1.3 and 2.7 kW/m2 for four‐finned MF–PCM heat sink and three‐finned MF–PCM heat sink, respectively. Also, three‐finned heat sink provides higher heat transfer rate and highest thermal conductance at q″ = 2.7 kW/m2.

Experimental Investigation of Composite Phase Change Material Heat Sinks for Enhanced Passive Thermal Management

AbstractPhase change materials (PCMs) are effective at storing thermal energy and are attractive for use in electronics to smooth temperature peaks during periods of high demand; however, the use of PCMs has been somewhat limited due to the poor thermal properties of the materials. Here, we propose a design for a tunable composite PCM heat sink for passive thermal management in electronic systems and develop an improved test platform to directly compare performance between different designs and PCMs. The composite design leverages high conductivity pathways, which are machined into aluminum heat sinks, and back-filled with PCMs. Two package sizes are considered with several internal fin structures. All designs are evaluated using a test platform with realistic power profiles, controlled interfacial loading, and in situ temperature measurement. The composite PCM heat sinks are benchmarked against solid aluminum packages of the same size. This study focuses on three commercially available PCMs. Performance is evaluated based on (1) the time it takes the test heater chip below each composite PCM package to reach the cut-off temperature of 95 °C and (2) the period of a full melt-regeneration cycle. A range of heat fluxes are considered in this study spanning 6.8–14.5 W cm−2. The isokite design with PlusICE S70 extends the time to reach 95 °C by 36.2% when compared to the solid package, while weighing 17.3% less, making it advantageous for mobile devices.

Experimental and numerical investigations on the effect of porosity and PPI gradients of metal foams on the thermal performance of a composite phase change material heat sink

This paper reports the results of an experimental and numerical study on the thermal performance of a metal foam based composite phase change material (PCM) heat sink cylindrical in shape with porosity and PPI (pores per inch) density gradients. Studies are conducted on different configurations of composite PCM made of an open-cell aluminum metal foams with porosities of 0.9, 0.94 and 0.97 and PPI of 8, 14 and 20 encapsulated with n-eicosane as the PCM. Experiments are carried out on the PCM heat sink heated from the bottom for different configurations of metal foams with a uniform porosity and non-uniform porosity created with layer wise arrangement of metal foams from the bottom to the top. Complementary three-dimensional numerical simulations have been conducted using the enthalpy porosity methodology with a non-thermal equilibrium model to understand the melting and solidification dynamics of PCM while melting (charging) and solidification (discharging) respectively. Heat sink configurations with uniform porosity, and porosity gradient created with bi-layer arrangement of metal foams have been simulated numerically. Further, the numerical simulations have been extended to study heat sink configurations containing metal foams with uniform PPI density and PPI density gradient. From the results, it is seen that the case of non-uniform variation in porosity (decreasing from the bottom to the top) with constant PPI density and the case of non-uniform PPI density (increasing from the bottom to the top) with constant porosity show superior performance up to 28 and 45% over the heat sink configurations with uniform porosity and PPI density respectively in the charging cycle in terms of the time to reach a setpoint temperature. From the numerical simulations, it is seen that the melt fraction of PCM significantly changes the convection velocity cells, which affects the melting dynamics of PCM. Additional numerical simulations have been conducted on PCM heat sink with non-uniform porosity (i.e. decreasing porosity from the bottom to the top) and non-uniform PPI density (i.e increasing PPI density from the bottom to the top) gradients created with three layers (tri-layer) of metal foams. The results show that the PCM heat sink with non-uniform porosity and non-uniform PPI density gradients created with tri-layer metal foams have almost the same performance as a bi-layer metal foam with enhancement ratio up to 4 and 4.4 times respectively over the base line case (i.e. PCM heat sink without metal foams). In the discharging cycle, it is seen that the porosity and PPI gradients do not have any effect on the thermal performance of the heat sink.

Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Photovoltaic Panel with and Without Phase Change Material Heat Sink

Abstract The future of solar energy conversion into electricity is one of the recognized classes of technology seeing that abundance of a free and clean source of energy in almost every part of continents. The effect of exceeding in temperature on Photovoltaic (PV) cells remains one of the major disadvantages of this technology. In order to improve the power utilization of the PV panel, it is necessary to maintain cell temperature as low as possible. The purpose of this paper is to present an experimental study of a photovoltaic panel with and without Phase Change Material (PCM) heat sink and investigate the possibility of performance improvement in terms of power produced and the energy conversion efficiency. The experimental setup consists of two PV solar panel, one coated with a special type of conductive phase change material and the other being a conventional panel without the PCM. Both the panels are connected independently to a data logger from which record of the temperature for each solar panel has been obtained. Further, this recorded temperature of both panels is analyzed and compared with each other. The performed experimental result shows that output cell power is increased due use of the PCM over the traditional conventionally available panel without PCM. This can significantly increase the system efficiency of the panel and shows that method a, with cooling system improve the performance of a photovoltaic panel. Keywords: Solar, PCM, Performance, Photovoltaic cell, Heat sink Cite this Article Nikhil Gomkhale, Bharti Verma, Kavikant Mahapatra. Experimental Investigation on the Performance of Photovoltaic Panel with and Without Phase Change Material Heat Sink. Journal of Thermal Engineering and Applications . 2020; 7(2): 15–23p.

Numerical Studies on the Performance of the PCM Mesh-Finned Heat Sink Base on Thermal-Flow Multiphysics Coupling Simulation

Operating temperature is an important parameter of thyristors to ensure the stable operation of power electronic devices. Thermal management technology is of great significance for improving the reliability of thyristors. In this study, the performance of a phase change material (PCM) mesh-finned heat sink is investigated for the thermal management of thyristors. A multi-physical coupling model of the PCM mesh-finned heat sink is established to analyze the effects of different power losses, air velocities, heights of fins, and thickness of PCM on the thermal performance of the PCM heat sink. The influence of thermal and flow fields on PCM is considered in this model. Furthermore, the heat sink design is optimized to improve the thermal performance based on the calculation results of thermal network parameters. The results show that the power losses, the air velocity, the height of fins, and the thickness of PCM significantly affect the protection ability of the PCM heat sink. After optimizing the heat sink, the PCM heat sink provides 80 s protection time and 100 s recovery time. The PCM mesh-finned heat sink demonstrated good potential for the thermal management of thyristors.

High porosity and light weight graphene foam heat sink and phase change material container for thermal management

During the last decade, graphene foam emerged as a promising high porosity 3-dimensional (3D) structure for various applications. More specifically, it has attracted significant interest as a solution for thermal management in electronics. In this study, we investigate the possibility to use such porous materials as a heat sink and a container for a phase change material (PCM). Graphene foam (GF) was produced using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process and attached to a thermal test chip using sintered silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The thermal conductivity of the graphene foam reached 1.3 W m−1 K−1, while the addition of Ag as a graphene foam silver composite (GF/Ag) enhanced further its effective thermal conductivity by 54%. Comparatively to nickel foam, GF and GF/Ag showed lower junction temperatures thanks to higher effective thermal conductivity and a better contact. A finite element model was developed to simulate the fluid flow through the foam structure model and showed a positive and a non-negligible contributions of the secondary microchannel within the graphene foam. A ratio of 15 times was found between the convective heat flux within the primary and secondary microchannel. Our paper successfully demonstrates the possibility of using such 3D porous material as a PCM container and heat sink and highlight the advantage of using the carbon-based high porosity material to take advantage of its additional secondary porosity.

Analysis of heat pipe-aided graphene-oxide based nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material heat sink for passive cooling of electronic components

The present study involves the experimental investigation of the heat sink aided with nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material and heat pipe for the passive cooling of electronic components, thereby increasing the reliability of the working system. In this study, RT-35HC is used as the base phase change materials along with the incorporation of Graphene oxide nanoparticles (0.003 mass% and 0.005 mass%) for different heating loads i.e., 1 KW m−2, 1.5 KW m−2 and 2.5 KW m−2. Results illustrated that after the charging phase, heat sink aided with nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material and heat pipe has shown the best results for lower heating loads of 1 KW m−2, 1.5 KW m−2, respectively, by showing the temperature reduction of 29.53% and 34.06% (at 1 KW m−2) and also 36.29% and 36.45% (at 1.5 KW m−2) for 0.003 mass% and 0.006 mass%, respectively. For high heat flux of 2.5 KW m−2, phase change material/heat pipe-aided heat sink has shown the best combination i.e., showing a temperature reduction of 42.81%, respectively, whereas, for both the concentrations i.e., 0.003 mass% and 0.006 mass%, the reduction in the peak temperature of heat sink at the end of the charging process is 32.95% and 37.54%. Hence, RT-35HC-based nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material composite-aided heat sinks are best recommended for lower power levels whereas, at higher power levels the thermal conductivity reduces due to the particles agglomeration.

Solar Photovoltaic Panels with Finned Phase Change Material Heat Sinks

Phase change material (PCM) based passive cooling of photovoltaics (PV) can be highly productive due to high latent heat capacity. However, the low rate of heat transfer limits its usefulness. Thus, the presented work aims at the improvement in PV cooling by using finned PCM (FPCM) heat sinks. In the present study, PCM heat sink and FPCM heat sinks were investigated numerically for PV cooling and the extracted heat is used for space heating. 4 kWp PV, PV-PCM and PV-FPCM systems were studied under the weather conditions of Southeast of England. It was observed that the PCM heat sinks can drop the peak PV temperature by 13 K, whereas FPCM heat sinks can enhance the PV cooling by 19 K. The PCM heat sinks can increase the PV electrical efficiency from 13% to 14%. Moreover, the daily electricity generation can be boosted by 7% using PCM and 8% by using FPCM heat sinks. In addition, 7 kWh of thermal output was achieved using the FPCM heat sink, and the overall efficiency of system increased from 13% to 19%.