Parametric Study for PCM-Based Heat Sinks: A Numerical Investigation

Abstract

Studying thermal management of mechatronic components presents a great challenge for researchers in several domains in the last few decades. In most cases, classical cooling systems may not be sufficient. To this end, phase change material-based heat sinks are well recommended for a passive cooling problem. In this paper, we present an efficient thermal energy management of a PCM-based round pin-finned heat sink that leads to provide its optimal configuration. The numerical results compare relatively well with that of the experimental. A detailed parametric study is based on the effect of several uncertain parameters which are in relation with boundary conditions, geometry and materials. This study leads to determine that salt hydrate has the ability to store more thermal energy of the presented cooling system comparing to n-Eicosane and paraffin wax. Furthermore, a heat sink with a 2 mm pin diameter presents the optimal heat sink geometry for the charging phase under a uniform heat flux about 2800 W/m 2. Also, increasing the input heat power leads to decrease the latent heating period and then decreasing the ability to store a high amount of thermal energy. Finally, the parametric study leads to determine an optimal configuration with an efficient thermal energy behavior. Thermal performance of each configuration is determined for the charging phase of the electronic device.