Experimental investigation on the thermal management performance of heat sink using low melting point alloy as phase change material. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhao, Liang; Xing, Yuming; Liu, Xin
• Is Part Of: Renewable energy. Volume 146(2020)
• Page Start: 1578
• Page End: 1587
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Phase change material -- Thermal management -- Heat sink -- Low melting point alloy -- Stearic acid -- Copper foam; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Énergies renouvelables -- Périodiques; Ressources énergétiques -- Périodiques; 333.794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.07.115
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-1481

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents a low melting point Bi–Pb–Sn–Cd alloy as the phase change material (PCM) for a thermal management system. Compared with an organic PCM (stearic acid (SA)), which has a similar melting point of ∼69 °C, the thermophysical properties of the two PCMs were characterized, which revealed that the low melting point alloy (LMPA) had much larger thermal conductivity (∼125.22 W/mK) and volumetric latent heat (∼365.5 MJ/m 3 ). The analysis results of a 270-day compatibility experiment using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) showed that the LMPA had good compatibility with the aluminium alloy and copper. With the same dimensions, the LMPA-based heat sink outperforms the SA and copper foam/SA composite based heat sinks at various power input levels, which could effectively reduce the temperature of the heater and extend the effective managed time at least 1.5 times. The LMPA-based heat sink could also discharge heat more efficiently, which is preferred for cyclic operation. Highlights: A low melting point alloy (LMPA) is adopted as the phase change material. The LMPA was characterized for its thermal properties. The LMPA has good compatibility with common used copper and aluminum alloy. The heat sink with LMPA exhibits better thermal management performance. The heating mode affects the thermal performance of PCM based heat sink.