Thermal management of an electronic device using the phase change material-integrated heat sinks

Abstract In this study, the effect of integrating a phase change material (PCM) into a heat sink on the cooling effectiveness of compact, high-power electronic devices is experimentally investigated. Experiments are conducted at heat loads of 6 W and 12 W using an aluminum finned heat sink. The heatsink used comprises seven cavities, which are filled with PCM (OM42) in various filling configurations. These include fully filled, four cavities filled, three cavities filled, and one with no PCM filling. The results showed that the overall thermal performance is improved for the PCM-based heat sink. This is achieved primarily through combined latent heat absorption together with enhanced airflow pathways. At a low heat load of 6 W, the three-filled configuration exhibited the lowest thermal resistance under both natural and fan-assisted cooling. Reductions of 22% and 30%, respectively, were observed compared with the corresponding baseline cases. Conversely, at a higher heat load of 12 W, the fully filled configuration offered better thermal performance under both cooling modes. Thermal resistance was reduced by approximately 44% under natural convection and 47% under forced convection relative to their respective baseline cases. In addition, PCM integration delays the temperature rise and prolongs the melting stage, with the break-off time increasing by up to 500 s under forced convection. Overall, the results show that partially filled configurations are more effective at lower heat loads due to improved convective cooling. However, a fully filled PCM configuration is suitable at higher heat loads as the latent heat storage effect is dominant.