An experimental study for thermal management using hybrid heat sinks based on organic phase change material, copper foam and heat pipe

Phase change materials (PCMs) are a better choice for thermal management if their low thermal conductivity could be dealt with as this limits the heat transfer rates during charging and discharging processes. For the use of phase change materials in practical applications, therefore, it is important to improve their thermal conductivity, phase change materials thermal conductivity can be improved by integrating it with high thermal conductive materials. In this study, copper foam and heat pipe (HP) are integrated with Phase Change Material (PCM RT-64) to analyze the cooling performance of the heat sink. Different heat sink configurations are investigated at two different heat fluxes 2 & 3 kW/m2 for the same charging and discharging time of 6000 s to determine the best cooling arrangement. Results depicted that the base temperature of the heat sink increased with increasing heat flux. At both heat fluxes, hybrid cooling (PCM-Cu Foam-HP) showed the best performance compared to other combinations. At heat flux of 2 kW/m2 and 3 kW/m2 hybrid system with cooling fan reduces the base temperature by 38 % and 39 % respectively, as compared to the empty heat sink. Setpoint temperature analysis also showed that fan hybrid cooling is the best configuration.