Abstract:
For cooling portable electronic devices, effective thermal management (TM)
depending on phase change material (PCM) is used. To absorb the thermal energy
that all such devices release, PCM is used in the heat sink. The aim of this study is to
determine how to increase the charging period of PCM. This work reports the
results of detailed numerical studies carried out to improve the performance of a
PCM-based heat sink in the charging cycle using baffles. Baffles are horizontal
plate-fin structures made of aluminium. Two numerical studies were carried out. The
first one is a comparative studyon heat transfer from PCM-based heat sinks with and
without baffles. The PCM used is n-eicosane. The second one is a comparative study
of two PCMs, rubitherm and n- eicosane. And validation of experimental data is
done. From the numerical study a heat sink with baffles filled with a 0.9 volumetric
fractionof n-eicosane shows the best performance. Rubitherm filled in the heat sink
without baffles shows the best heat transfer. The investigation of PCM-based heat
sinks with and without baffles revealed that more than 51% of the temperature
differential was caused by baffles.
