Performance evaluation of heat sinks with calcium nitrate tetrahydrate phase change material for electronic cooling

The study investigates the influence of heat sink designs and phase change material on the passive cooling of integrated circuits, specifically focusing on input power levels ranging from 4 to 12 W. The experimental setup evaluated heat sinks incorporating Calcium Nitrate Tetrahydrate PCM (SH PCM), with a particular emphasis on Triangular Fin Heat Sink (TFHS) and No Fin Heat Sink (NFHS). The TFHS design featured a consistent fin volume fraction of 11%, while the performance of these configurations was assessed across various power inputs. Besides that, SH PCM is evaluated through parameters such as enhancement ratio, heat storage ratio, set point temperature, Fourier number, and Stefan number. Results reveal that both TFHS and NFHS with SH PCM effectively regulate temperature at lower power levels, with NFHS showing a controlled temperature rise of 56.7% at 4 W. However, as power increases, PCM efficiency declines, with NFHS reaching an 89% temperature rise at 12 W, while TFHS experiences a 92.3% increase. Despite this, TFHS consistently maintains lower peak temperatures than NFHS, improving performance by 4.3% at 4 W and 6.7% at 12 W, due to its superior heat dissipation. While TFHS performs well in heat absorption under moderate conditions, it has a 41% performance gap at maximum heat flux compared to NFHS. Additionally, NFHS requires 15–30% longer charging times but releases heat 10–25% faster during discharging. Overall, TFHS combined with SH PCM proves to be the most effective configuration for passive cooling, making it highly suitable for portable electronic devices.