Research PaperExperimental study of the cooling performance of phase change material with discrete heat sources - Continuous and intermittent regimes

- Study on thermal performance of PCM with three discrete heat sources.
- Examination of heat transfer mechanism for different heat flux repartition between sources.
- An intermittent regime is investigated for different heat flux cycle.
- An extended critical time is shown when the greater part of heat flux is placed at middle or lower source.
- Fractionating cycle length into 4 or 8 cycles can keep plate temperature under critical condition for longer time.

This paper presents an experimental investigation of phase change material (PCM, Plastic paraffin) behavior in a rectangular enclosure with three discrete heat sources flush-mounted on the right vertical wall. The remaining walls of the cavity are adiabatic. Maximizing the critical time (time required by one of the electronic components before reaching the critical temperature) is the global objective of this study. Conserving constant the total flux, the thermal performance of system is examined by different heat flux repartition between sources. Also, the intermittent regime is studied for different heat flux cycle. The results show that the thermal performance depends strongly on the heat flux repartition and the maximum heat transfer is seen for the lower source. Placing the greater part of heat flux at middle or lower source seems the best manner to extend the critical time. For intermittent regime, it is concluded that fractionating cycle length into 4 or 8 cycles can keep plate temperature under critical condition for respectively 3 and 5 times comparing to one cycle.