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Phase change material integrated heat sink for thermal management and thermal energy storage application

Subcategory (under Clean Energy): Storage
Technology Readiness Level (TRL): TRL 4 - Early prototype
Technology Outline (Process Description)

The present invention is aimed to develop novel phase change material (PCM) based light-weight heat sink for thermal man- agement of various systems especially the electronic devices. The heat sink utilizes paraffin wax as PCM and various thermal conductivity enhancers (TCEs) to improve the thermal performance. The investigation incorporates various fin geometries, fin arrangement and fin types for the analysis; these include both orthotropic and isotropic fins. Also, the analysis includes the effect of various TCEs such as different nanoparticles, and metallic and non-metallic foams embedded with PCM on the thermal performance. Among various heat sink configurations studied, the thermal performance of heat sink with carbon foam PCM composite exhibits superior performance for thermal management applications; while, in a view of light weight and better performance, PCM based heat sink with orthotropic fins can be preferred for thermal management application. The novel PCM based heat sink with orthotropic fins was designed and its performance analysis is made for varied range of heat flux values.

Salient Features/Advantages

  • Inclusion of PCM in the heat sink extends the maximum operating time required to attain the critical set point temperature
  • Maximum reduction in melting time is found to be 9 %, 13 % and 26 % for Al2O3 based NePCM based unfinned, one finned and three finned heat sinks, respectively
  • Lower base temperature is obtained for carbon foam PCM composite heat sink compared to heat sink with NePCM and fin-PCM composite

Key Outcomes

  • The PCM composite involving the nanoparticles and PCM exhibits the lower value of latent heat of fusion; while shows higher value of the thermal conductivity and viscosity
  • The proposed PCM-based heat sink with orthotropic fin configuration exhibits enhanced operating time with reduction in weight by 20%
  • The enhancement ratio (ER) of pyrolytic graphite-substrate nucleated finned heat sink is found to be 2.13 compared to ER=1.47 in case of aluminum finned heat sink

IP Protection details

  • Patent filed (Title, national/International): Nil
  • Patents Granted: Nil
  • Copyrights obtained /progress on commercialisation /Pl. specify connect with industry: Nil

Contact details (for more information)

  • Nodal Person name: Santosh K. Sahu
  • Email ID: sksahu@iiti.ac.in
  • Organisation name (Relevant link/web page): Indian Institute of Technology Indore
Supporting Photographs/Images

Organizations involved in the development (logo/name)

Indian Institute of Technology Indore

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