Experimental investigation on the thermal performance of a PCM based cylindrical heat sink with multiple PCMs

Advancement in the performance of electronic devices and miniaturization in packaging is currently happening at an unprecedented pace. Thermal management of the device is the need of the hour, as the reliability of any electronic device goes down non-linearly with temperature rise. The present study reports the results of experimental investigations on the thermal performance of multiple phase change materials (PCMs) in the cooling of electronic devices by exploiting high latent heat of a phase change material. The PCMs used in this study are n-Eicosane, Docosane and Tetracosane. A cylindrical heat sink with a stem and six radial fins (six cavities and heated at the base) is chosen for the investigations. The heat sink, stem, fins are all made of aluminium. Investigations are carried out with a view to explore and quantify the enhancement in the thermal performance of (i) single PCM arrangement and (ii) multiple PCMs arrangement in both the charging and the discharging cycles. Comparisons are done with the baseline case of a heat sink without PCM (air). Comparisons are also carried out between single and multiple PCM cases. Results show that the performance of multiple PCMs (combination) lies in between the performances of individual PCMs in the charging cycle. However, the combination of Eicosane and Tetracosane outperforms the performances of Eicosane and Tetracosane individually which is a result with engineering significance, from a cost point of view. Multiple PCMs show superior performance over single PCMs in the discharging cycle.