A parametric study of phase change material (PCM)-based heat sinks

A numerical study is conducted to evaluate the thermal characteristics of a PCM-based heat sink which can be potentially used for cooling of mobile electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and notebooks. The heat sink consists of a conventional, extruded aluminum sink embedded with appropriate PCMs. Some important parameters, such as PCM volume fraction, temperature difference, aspect ratio, and PCM properties, were studied to investigate their effects on the thermal performance of the hybrid cooling system.