Characterization of Phase Change Material-Based Heat Sinks for Cyclic Heat Loads

Abstract

Literature suggests to use a fin volume fraction of 8% in the Phase Change Material (PCM) based heat sinks to get the maximum thermal control for constant heat loads. However, the same volume fraction may not be the optimum for cyclic loads. In the present numerical investigation, the thermal characteristics of a PCM based heat sinks having different volume fraction of fins (0, 8, 15.6, and 25.7%) when subject to cyclic heat loads of square, triangle, and sawtooth profiles having time periods vary from 100 to 400 s are studied in detail. All the heat sinks and fins are made of Aluminum, and the PCMs considered are Eicosane and RT-52. The present numerical results report that the heat sink with an 8% volume fraction of fins is the best in handling cyclic heat loads of time periods more than 100 s with the maximum enhancement ratios of 6.1 for Eicosane and 4.1 for RT-52. Whereas, for heat loads with 100 s time period, the heat sink with 15.6% volume fraction of fins turns out to be the best, regardless of the heat load profile, with the maximum enhancement ratios of 5.74 and 3.9 for Eicosane and RT-52, respectively.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rajesh Akula

Rajesh Akula is currently working as an institute postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He completed his Ph.D. under the guidance of Prof. C. Balaji, Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nuzvid, India in 2016. His research interests include battery thermal management, electronic cooling, optimization, and machine learning.

Chakravarthy Balaji

Chakravarthy Balaji is currently the T. T. Narendran Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai, India. His research interests are atmospheric science, optimization in heat transfer, inverse heat transfer, electronic and battery cooling. He has over 225 international journal publications to his credit and has undertaken several sponsored research projects for the government and industry. He has authored fourteen books. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Thermal Sciences.