RT 42 and RT 50 phase change materials-based heat sinks for thermal management of electronics

For the purpose of passively cooling portable electronic devices, this research employed a two-dimensional (2D) transient examination to examine the impact of embedding PCMs within finned-heat sink on thermal performance. The PCMs used in this investigation are RT 42 and RT 50. These PCMs can be embedded to control the heat evacuation from portable electronics. By incorporating a 9% thermal conductivity enhancer of metallic fins into the design of the heat sink, with a fin thickness of 3 mm, the thermal conductivity is enhanced over a range of heat rates. Applying varying levels of power through finite-volume method transient numerical simulations allows us to investigate the phenomena of melting and solidification and the transmission of conjugate heat. The results obtained demonstrate that the maximum temperature increased from 54.9 °C to 89.6 °C when using RT 42, with an increase in heat power input from 4 to 6 W and a flow time of 70 min. Using RT 50 as a PCM will cause the temperature to rise from 55.2 °C to 88.1 °C. Furthermore, RT 42 showed more resistance, especially during the latent phase, even though it has a lower melting point and reaches its melting point later than RT 50. In addition, both PCMs take about the same amount of time to reach SPT of 55 °C independent of the heat flux, whereas RT 42 takes about twice as long as RT 50 to reach SPT 45 °C. In conclusion, the results show that RT 42 performs similarly to RT 50, even though of its lower melting point.