Accepted Manuscript

Investigation of finned heat sink performance with nano enhanced phase change
material (NePCM)

Milad Bayat, Mohammad Reza Faridzadeh, Davood Toghraie

PII: S2451-9049(17)30335-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2017.10.021
Reference: TSEP 85

To appear in: Thermal Science and Engineering Progress

Received Date: 30 September 2017

Revised Date: 18 October 2017
Accepted Date: 28 October 2017

Please cite this article as: M. Bayat, M.R. Faridzadeh, D. Toghraie, Investigation of finned heat sink performance
with nano enhanced phase change material (NePCM), Thermal Science and Engineering Progress (2017), doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2017.10.021

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 Investigation of finned heat sink performance with

nano enhanced phase change material (NePCM)

Milad Bayat1, Mohammad Reza Faridzadeh1, Davood Toghraie1*

1*
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khomeinishahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khomeinishahr, Iran

*
Corresponding author: Davood Toghraie, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic AzadUniversity,
Khomeinishahr Branch, Khomeinishahr 84175-119, Iran.
Email: Toghraee@iaukhsh.ac.ir

Abstract

In this research, the performance of a finned heat sink with phase change material (PCM) is
numerically simulated for two cases: with and without PCM. The results showed an
improvement in heat sink performance when using PCM. One of the defects of PCMs is their
low thermal conductivity. One solution to deal with this problem is the addition of high thermal
conductivity nanoparticles to PCMs. For this purpose, the effects of adding copper oxide and
aluminum oxide nanoparticles to paraffin PCMs were investigated. The results show that the
performance of heat sink is improved by adding a low percentage of nanoparticles (2%).
However, by increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles to 6%, not only the heatsink
performance does not improve, but also decreases.
Keywords: Heat sink, Performance, Nano enhanced phase change material, Paraffin
 1- Introduction

The most common method for cooling electronic devices is force convection through finned heat

sinks to raise the heat transfer rate. This traditional technique, however, may not be effective for

new electronic applications due to the production cost, size, power consumption, reliability,

weight, sound, and apparent constraints [1]. Today, reducing heat loss from electrical systems

and also decreasing their sizes are among the main concerns of many industries. As a result, new

heat sinks are designed in a way to remove more heat. In this connection, an efficient cooling

system designed to meet this challenge is of high importance.

One way for improving the heat sink performance is to incorporate phase change materials

(PCMs). This system is suitable for the cases that heat loads enter discontinuously to the system.

PCM is applied as a temperature regulator in different situations [2, 3]. The PCM-based cooling

systems have a passive mechanism consisting of three steps. In the first step, heat is absorbed

through the electronic device to raise the temperature of the solid material to its melting

temperature. In the second step, PCM starts to melt at a constant temperature during which the

heat is absorbed without any temperature rise. In the third step, the PCM is completely melted,

and the temperature of the fluid increases with a further continuance of the heat input. Although

the PCM can absorb large amounts of heat during the phase change, cooling by these materials

may take a while to complete melting [4]. For this reason, it is desirable to the phase-change

material used in situations where heat input is alternating [5]. The standalone characteristics of

PCM such as high latent heat of fusion, high heat capacity, nontoxic and non-corrosive cause

these materials to be a good choice for using in heat systems. These materials are highly used in

engineering systems, energy storage systems, the electronic cooling system [6], buildings [7],
heat exchangers [8], and the same works. These materials have low heat conduction, which

causes PCM to face a serious challenge. To cope with this problem, it is necessary to use some

materials with high heat conduction in PCM systems. Such materials are used in different forms

such as fins [9], metal grids [10], or nanoparticles [11,12, 13].

Using PCM in heat sinks can improve heat dissipation capability of the sink. Wang et al. [14]

investigated performances of the heat sink with PCM parametrically. Their results show that by

addition of PCM to the heat sink, its temperature is decreased. Fok et al. [15] investigated

cooling the electronic equipment by PCM of n-Eicosane located in heat sinks with and without

fins. Their results show that finned heat sink with PCM is a practical way for cooling the

transportable electronic equipment. Hosseinizadeh et al. [16] investigated the performance of

heat sink with PCM experimentally and numerically. Their results show that numerical method

can be used in simulating the process of PCM melting in a heat sink. Also, their results show that

increasing the height and the number of fins has a much effect on improving the performance of

heat sink, but by increasing the thickness of the fins only a low improvement in performance is

seen. Srikanth et al. [17] prepared a pin-fin net in the heat sink using PCM. They found that

addition of a small volume of high thermal conductivity nanoparticles to PCM provides

appropriate conditions for heat sink incorporation in electrical equipment. Khodadadi and

Hosseinizadeh [18] investigated the freezing of NePCM in a cavity and found that thermal

conductivity will increase with increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles, resulting in a

reduced melting time. Sanusi et al. [19] investigated the heating and freezing of paraffin PCM

with graphic nanofiber, experimentally. By adding nanoparticle during heating, a delay is seen in

the time needed to reach the melting point. This delay is because of to the higher penetration of

heat through the material due to its higher thermal conductivity, which reduces the temperature
consequently. Chintakrinda et al. [20] investigated the heating of PCM with nano-carbon fiber in

a heat sink. They reported that by adding 5.5% of nano Carbon fiber to the pure PCM, the time to

reach the melting point would be improved by 60%. Sebti et al. [21] investigated the melting

process of PCM using copper nanoparticles in a square cavity. They showed that an increase in

the volume fraction of the nanoparticles leads to the increased thermal conductivity of NePCM,

leading to the increased heat transfer rate. Ebrahimi and Dadvand [22] stimulated melting of

paraffin wax with nanoparticles in a square cavity with two heat sources. They showed that by

increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles from 0 to 2%, the rate of melting will rise but by

increasing it to 5%, melting rate is similar to that of pure PCM. They attributed this behavior to

the contrast of viscosity along with thermal conductivity changes. Fan et al. [23] investigated

melting of PCM incorporated with nano graphic sheets in a spherical enclosure and reported that

by adding 0.5 % of nanosheets, the melting time is decreased by 10%, due to the thermal

conductivity increment in NePCM.

Considering the previous numerical and experimental studies conducted on PCMs, it is seen that

heat sink with inner fins and PCM system can be used for cooling the electronic equipment. One

of the shortcomings of this system, however, is its low thermal conductivity that can be

improved by incorporating high thermal conductivity nanoparticles. Although many studies have

been conducted on the increasing of PCM thermal conductivity by adding nanoparticles, these

studies focus the simple geometries and low performances of PCM systems. Therefore, the

present work was done to investigate numerically the performance of a finned heat sink with

NePCM. The performance of heat sink was assessed for two cases: with and without PCM.

Enthalpy-porosity technique was used to simulate the melting process of PCM in a heat sink. To

evaluate the effect of heat flux on the heat sink with PCM, its performance was analyzed at
different heat fluxes.

2- Problem Description
The problem consists of a heat sink with rectangular fins. The gap between fins is filled with

PCM. Fig. 1 presents the schematic of the studied heat sink. The heat sink is made of

aluminum. The thickness of the base is 4 mm. Thickness and heights of fins are 2 mm and 40

mm, respectively. Heat enters to the bottom of the heat sink from a rectangular 50×50 mm2

surface and is conducted through the PCM by base and fins. The PCM melts through

absorbing heat and causes the heat sink temperature not to exceed more than the permitted

limit. By melting the PCM, its volume increases and; however, not all the space in fins is

filled with this material. The extra space of the PCM is filled with air. By melting of PCM

and increasing its volume, its boundary will be replaced by air. To boost the performance of

heat sink, nanoparticles are added to PCM. paraffin wax is considered as PCM and

nanoparticles (aluminum oxide and copper oxide) are added to it.

Fig. 1 Schematic of the studied heat sink
The assumptions of the present work are as follows:

• The PMC is pure.

• The melted PCM is incompressible and Newtonian.

• There is natural convection in liquid PCM.

• Sidewalls are adiabatic.

• NePCM is homogenous.

• Melting process is unsteady and fluid flow is laminar and three-dimensional.

• Thermophysical properties of PCM are temperature-dependent.

3- Governing equations and numerical method

By melting PCM, its volume increases while a decrease in air volume occurs. For a system

composed of PCM and air, the volume of fluid (VOF) model is used. In this model, if volume

fraction of the nth fluid in the calculated cell is αn, three conditions will exist:

A)  = 0, cell is empty from the nth fluid.

B)  = 1, the cell is full of the nth fluid.

C) 0 <  < 1 , a part of the cell consists of the nth fluid.

So, the continuity equation for the nth fluid is as follows:

 
+ =0
 
)

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text of

specified

style in
 (document.1

To simulate the melting process of PCM, enthalpy–porosity method is used. The melting zone is

considered as a porous medium and porosity in every cell is considered as a liquid fraction of

that cell. Liquid fraction shows the volume of the cell in the liquid phase. In a complete solid

region, porosity is zero due to the zero velocity in this region. The liquid fraction is determined

according to enthalpy equilibrium. The mushy zone is a region wherein the liquid fraction is

between 0 and 1. This zone is considered as a porous medium with its porosity increasing from 0

to 1 [24, 25].

4-1. Energy Equation

H is the enthalpy of NePCM and is equal to sum of sensible enthalpy (h) and latent heat (∆):

 = ℎ + ∆ (2)

Sensible enthalpy is calculated as follow,


ℎ = ℎ +   
(3)


In this equation, ℎ is reference enthalpy,  is reference temperature and  is specific heat

in constant pressure. The latent heat capacity regarding material latent heat is determined as

follow:

∆ =  (4)

In this relation, L is latent heat and  is liquid fraction:

0
" #$  < %&' ()%
 − %&' ()%
= #$ ' +) ()% <  < %&' ()% -
!' +) ()% − %&' ()%
(5)

 1 #$  > ' +) ()%

Energy equation is as follow,

 (/)
+ ∇. (/34) = ∇. (5∇) + 6

(6)

Where 34 is velocity of fluid and S is source term.

4-2. Momentum Equation

Momentum equation is such as follow,

(/ )  P    2 
+ (/ 7) = + [: ( + − =7 )] + / ? + 6
7
  7    7   3 
(7)
7

In this equation, the term of momentum source, S for porosity decreasing in melting zone is

defined such as follow,

(1 − @)A
6= DE)%F (34 − HHHH4)
3G
@B + C
(8)

Where @ is liquid volume fraction, C is a small number (0.001) for not to divide to zero, DE)%F is

a constant and H3HHH4

G is solid velocity because of moving the solid outward domain.

4-3. Boundary conditions and initial condition

In this simulation, the constant heat flux enters from sink base to it and the other sidewalls of the

sink are considered adiabatic. The top part of the heat sink is filled with air, where outlet

pressure boundary conditions (equal to environment pressure) are applied. To simulate the

melting process of PCM, in the initial time, the heat sink and PCM temperature were considered

to be 300K.

4-4. Material thermophysical properties

In this study, paraffin RT-44 is considered as PCM and the effect of adding nanoparticles of

copper oxide and the aluminum oxide is investigated. Thermophysical properties of RT-44
paraffin and nanoparticles are present in Table 1.

Table 1 Thermophysical properties of RT-44 Paraffin and nanoparticles

Paraffin wax Aluminium oxide Copper oxide

Thermal conductivity
0.2 36 18
(W/mK)
Solid temperature
314 - -
(K)
Liquid temperature
318 - -
(K)
Specific heat
2000 765 540
(J/kgK)
Latent Heat
255000 - -
1790
(J/kg)

0.001 exp L−4.25 + Q


Dynamic viscosity
-
760
(kg/ms)

0.001(T − 314)
Density
3600 6510
(kg/m3)

59 × 10TU 29 × 10TU
Nanoparticles diameter
-
(m)
Adding even a low amount of nanoparticles to PCM will have some effects on the properties of

the final product. The thermodynamic properties of NePCM are determined as follow.

Density [26]:

/VW = X/G + (1 − X)/VW (9)

Specific heat capacity [26]:

X(/ )G + (1 − X)(/ )VW

,VW =
/VW
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(document.10

Latent heat [26]:

 (1 − X)(/)VW
VW =
/VW
(11)

Dynamic viscosity [27]:

:VW = DZ ([\) :VW (12)

In this case, A is 0.983 and 0.9197 for a fluid with aluminum oxide and a fluid with copper oxide

respectively. B for the fluid with aluminum oxide and the copper oxide is 22.8539 and 12.959,

respectively. The effective thermal conductivity presented by Vajjha et al. [28] is calculated as

follow:

5G + 25VW − 2(5VW − 5G )X

5VW = 5 +5
5G + 25VW + (5VW − 5G )X VW
(13)

a
× 10] @^ _X/VW ,VW ` $(, X)
/G G

For Aluminum oxide, @^ is as follow,

@^ = 8.4407(100X)Tc.deBd] (14)

And for Copper oxide, @^ also is defined as,

@^ = 9.881(100X)Td.U]]f

Where _ is Brownian motion modification factor and define as,

" 0 #$  < %&' ()%

 − %&' ()%
(15)

_= #$ %&' ()% <  < ' +) ()% -

!' +) ()% − %&' ()%
 1 #$  > ' +) ()%

a is Boltzmann constant and is equal with 1.381 × 10TAB and $(, X) is calculated from

experimental relations and will be defined as follow,

 
$(, X) = (2.8217 × 10TA X + 3.917 × 10TB )
d
(16)

+ (−3.0669 × 10TA X − 3.91123 × 10TB )

Where d is reference temperature and is equal with 273 K. As it is denoted, when PCM melted,

its density will be decreased and its volume will be increased. So, the density of solid PCM is

considered constant and during the melting density is defined as follow,

/'
/=
[@( − ' ) + 1]
(17)

where /' is the density of PCM during melting and @ is the thermal expansion coefficient. By

changing the PCM properties, the performance of heat sink will also be affected. The important

characteristics with the highest effect on sink performance are thermal conduction coefficient,

viscosity, and latent heat of melting. By increasing the thermal conductivity, heat penetration in

PCM and as a result the rate of heat transfer from the sink increase. However, by increasing

density, the rate of heat transfer from the sink will decrease due to the reduced natural

convection heat transfer from the walls.

Fig. 2 compares the thermal conductivity changes of pure PCM and NePCM with each other. By

adding nanoparticles, thermal conductivity also changes. The thermal conductivity of pure

paraffin is equal to 0.2 W/mK and by adding nanoparticles to paraffin, thermal conductivity is

increased and the performance of heat sink improved. Before melting of paraffin, thermal

conductivity is constant slightly higher than that of PCM with copper oxide nanoparticles. In

comparison, as NePCM melts and temperature rise further, the conductivity of PCM with copper

oxide nanoparticles also increases.

In Fig. 3, the viscosity changes of pure PCM and PCM with nanoparticles are compared. It is

seen that by adding nanoparticles, the viscosity of PCM increases, leading to a decrease in heat
sink performance. Moreover, by adding copper oxide nanoparticles, the viscosity increases

further.

Latent melting heat is another important characteristic of PCM that affects heat sink

performance. By adding nanoparticles to PCM, its latent heat decreases and, as a result, it melts

by absorbing a lower heat. Table 2 presents the value of the latent heat of NePCM versus

different nanoparticle percentages.

 0.30

Pure PCM
2 % Al2O3
0.28
4 % Al2O3
Thermal Conductivity (W/mK)

6 % Al2O3
2 % CuO
0.26 4 % CuO
6 % CuO

0.24

0.22

0.20

0.18
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

T(oC)

Fig. 2 PCM thermal conductivity versus temperature for different volume fractions of nanoparticles

0.016
Pure PCM
0.014 2 % Al2O3
4 % Al2O3
Dynamic viscosity (Ns/m^2)

0.012 6 % Al2O3
2 % CuO
4 % CuO
0.010
6 % CuO

0.008

0.006

0.004

0.002

0.000
40 50 60 70 80 90

T(oC)
 Fig. 3 PCM viscosity versus temperature for different volume fractions of nanoparticles

Table 2 Latent heat variation for different volume fractions of nanoparticles

Paraffin + Copper oxide Paraffin + Aluminium oxide

Pure Paraffin
2% 4% 6% 2% 4% 6%

255000 216000 187000 164000 232000 212000 195000

4-5. Problem solving method

Governing equations were solved using finite volume method. To relate pressure and velocity,

PISO algorithm was used. For discretization of momentum and energy equations, first order

upwind method was employed. Time step was considered to be 0.001s and then increased to

0.01s. Iterations in each time step were continued until reaching a convergence of 10-3 and 10-6

for continuity and momentum equations, respectively.

4-6. Meshing

To create a grid, the domain was divided into some sub-domains consisting of fins solid zone,

PCM zone, and air. For the independency of results from calculated grid cell number, the results

were analyzed for three different grids with cells number of 150,000, 300,000, and 600,000. In

Fig. 4, a change in liquid fraction during melting period of PCM for different cells is shown. As

can be seen from this figure, by increasing grid cells to more than 300000 cells, no change is

seen in the results. Therefore, 300,000 cells were used in the simulation step.
 1.0

0.8 150000 cell

300000 cell
600000 cell
Liquid Fraction

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10

time (min)

Fig. 4 Liquid fraction versus time for different cell numbers

4- Validation
To validate the prepared numerical method, the results were compared with experimental

data [15]. Through this simulation, a PCM of paraffin RT-42 with 3 fins was designed and

heat flux of 1800 W/m2 was applied to it. It is notable that an effective numerical method

must have a suitable accuracy in predicting the heat sink temperature during PCM melting.
 Fig. 5 Validation of present work with Ref. [15]

5- Results and Discussion

6-1 Heat sink performance with and without PCM

The use of PCM in the heat sink can have a large effect on its performance. To investigate the

effect of PCM, the performance of heat sink was evaluated with and without PCM. Fig. 6

presents the heat sink temperature changes for a heat flux of 3000 W/m2. In heat sink without

PCM, after 40 s temperature reaches 80℃ while using of PCM this time is increased to 495 s.

Thus, incorporating PCM in the heat sink, its performance improves considerably. As presented

in Fig. 6, the changes in heat sink temperature with PCM can be considered in three stages. In

the first stage, which is between 0 and 36 s, the temperature of PCM increases linearly and with a

high rate while its phase remaining solid. In the second stage, from 40 s to 450 s, PCM starts to

melt and its temperature enhances with a low rate. Finally, in the third stage, after 450 s the PCM
is melted completely and again its temperature rises with a higher rate.

200

180 30000 w/m2-PCM

30000 w/m2-No PCM

160

140

120
T ( C)
o

100

80

60

40

0 2 4 6 8 10

time (min)

Fig. 6 Heat sink temperature versus time: with PCM and without PCM

6-2 Evaluation of heat flux effect on heat sink with PCM

As discussed in the previous part, using PCM in heat sink leads to the improved performance of

the system. In this section, the performance of heat sink with PCM is evaluated for different heat

fluxes. In Fig. 7, the changes in heat sink temperature are analyzed versus time and for different

entered fluxes. To evaluate the performance of heat sink, three critical temperatures (50, 60, and

70℃) for heat sink were considered. In Table 3, the time to reach critical temperatures for

different heat fluxes is presented.

 80

Tcr=70 oC
70

Tcr=60 oC
60
T ( C)

Tcr=50 oC
o

50

40
30000 w/m2
20000 w/m2
10000 w/m2
30

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

time (min)
Fig. 7 Heat sink temperature versus time for different heat fluxes

Table 3 Change the time to reach critical temperature at different heat fluxes

Heat flux Critical Temperature Time

(Wm-2) (oC) (s)
50 1171
10000 60 1325
70 1444.8
50 103.76
20000 60 647.1
70 701.46
50 47.16
30000 60 163.36
70 459.9

For a better comparison of PCM performance in different heat fluxes, the variations in heat sink

temperature and paraffin for fluxes of 30000 W/m2 and 20000 W/m2 are shown in Fig. 8. As can
be seen from this figure, in equal time periods, the temperature in heat flux of 3000 W/m2 is

higher, leading to a faster melting of PCM.

 30 kW/m2

t=60 s t=120 s t=240 s t=300 s

t=660 s

t=360 s t=420 s t=480s

20 kW/m2

t=60 s t=120 s t=240 s t=300 s

 t=360 s t=420 s t=480 s t=660 s

Fig. 8 Heat sink with PCM temperature changes for two different heat fluxes

As mentioned earlier, by decreasing the heat flux, melting time of PCM is also increased. Fig. 9

depicts the changes in melted PCM fraction (liquid fraction) versus time for various heat fluxes.

After 8 min, by entering a 30,000 W/m2 heat flux to the heat sink, all PCM is melted. In

comparison, by entering heat fluxes of 10,000 W/m2 and 20,000 W/m2 at this time, 30 and 70%

of PCM was melted. For a better representation, contours of melted liquid in different times are

shown in Fig. 10. In this figure, it is seen that in equal times, more paraffin is melted by entering

more flux.
 1.0

0.8

0.6
Liquid Fraction

0.4
30000 w/m2
20000 w/m2
10000 w/m2

0.2

0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25

time (min)

Fig. 9 Changes of liquid fraction with time for different heat fluxes
 30 kW/m2

t=60 s t=120 s t=240 s t=300 s

t=360 s t=420 s t=480 s t=660 s

20 kW/m2

t=60 s t=120 s t=240 s t=300 s

 t=360 s t=420 s t=480 s t=660 s

Fig. 10 Melted liquid fraction contours for different heat fluxes

6-3 Evaluation of heat sink performance with NePCM

By adding nanoparticles to paraffin, its thermophysical properties will change, leading to the

affected performance of the heat sink. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate the changes in the temperature of

the heat sink for different percentages of aluminum oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles. In

times less than 40 s, where the PCM is still solid, heat sink temperature by adding nanoparticles

does not change considerably. However, by melting the PCM for less than 250 s, heat sink

temperature drops by adding nanoparticles. At this time, according to Figs. 2 and 3, thermal

conductivity and viscosity increase with the melting of the PCM. In comparison, when 40% of

the PCM is melted, the effect of thermal conductivity increase is greater than the effect of

increasing the viscosity; consequently, heat sink temperature is declined.

Although in the times 250 to 450 s incorporating 2 and 4 vol.% of nanoparticles caused a

decrease in heat sink temperature, the addition of 6% nanoparticles did not decrease the heat sink

temperature. In this temperature range with melting a greater fraction of PCM, the effect of

viscosity is sharper. By adding nanoparticles and increasing viscosity, convective heat transfer

decreases while the thermal conductivity increases. By adding 2 and 4% nanoparticles, the effect
of thermal conductivity increase overcomes the increase in the viscosity and thus heat sink

temperature is dropped. In contrast, by adding 6% of nanoparticles, the effect of increasing the

viscosity overcomes the increase in the thermal conductivity and thus heat sink temperature rises.

The latent heat is reduced by adding nanoparticles, so PCM is melted faster at times more than

450 s, leading to the increased heat sink temperature once melting is complete.

To compare the effect of adding nanoparticles, times for reaching temperatures 50 to 70℃ are

shown in Table 4. At the critical temperature of 50℃, the addition of nanoparticles does not

show much effect on heat sink performance. However, at the critical temperature of 60℃, the

addition of nanoparticles leads to an increase in the time needed for reaching the critical

temperature; and this time by adding 2% of aluminum oxide nanoparticles indicates the largest

increase. In the critical temperature of 70℃, the addition of a higher percentage of nanoparticles,

heat sink performance is declined while for a lower percentage of nanoparticles this performance

does not change notably. According to the results, the addition of aluminum oxide nanoparticles

has a greater impact on heat sink temperature. Hence, it can be stated that heat sink temperature

can be reduced by adding a small percentage (2%) of the nanoparticles to the PCM.
 80

70

60
T ( C)
o

50

40 30000 w/m2-0% Al2O3

30000 w/m2-2% Al2O3
30000 w/m2-4% Al2O3
30000 w/m2-6% Al2O3
30

0 2 4 6 8

time (min)

Fig. 11 Heat sink temperature versus time for different percentages of Al2O3 nanoparticles
 80

Tcr=70 oC
70

Tcr=60 oC
60
T ( C)

Tcr=50 oC
o

50

40 30000 w/m2
30000 w/m2-2% CuO
30000 w/m2-4% CuO
30000 w/m2-6% CuO

30

0 2 4 6 8

time (min)

Fig. 12 Heat sink temperature versus time for different percentages of CuO nanoparticles

Table 4 Change in time to reach critical temperature for different percentages of Nanoparticles

PCM+ Al2O3 PCM+ CuO

T (oC) Pure PCM
2% 4% 6% 2% 4% 6%
50 0.786 0.8006 0.833 0.8433 0.8110 0.8263 0.8616
55 1.4853 1.5856 1.7031 1.6813 1.6412 1.6428 1.7503
60 2.7228 3.3475 3.3083 3.1540 3.2875 3.1415 3.1290
65 6.6480 6.9938 6.7426 6.3451 6.8892 6.3955 5.5593
70 7.6651 7.5796 7.4648 7.3761 7.5693 7.4863 7.471

Fig. 13 presents melted liquid fraction changes for different percentages of aluminum oxide
nanoparticles. As shown in this figure, melted liquid fraction increases for all investigated

volume fractions of nanoparticles. However, with rising volume fraction from 4 to 6%, not much

change in the liquid fraction is noticed, probably due to the adverse impact of higher levels of

nanoparticles. In Table 5, melted liquid fraction values for pure PCM and NePCM are compared.

As can be deduced from these values, melting rate increases by adding nanoparticles to PCM.

Moreover, increasing the melting rate by adding aluminum oxide nanoparticles is slightly greater

than the effect of adding copper oxide nanoparticles.

 1.0

0.8

0.6
Liquid Fraction

0.4

30000 w/m2-0% Al2O 3

30000 w/m2-2% Al2O 3

0.2
30000 w/m2-4% Al2O 3
30000 w/m2-6% Al2O 3

0.0
0 2 4 6 8

time (min)

Fig. 13 Effects of volume fraction of Al2O3 nanoparticles on the liquid fraction

Table 5 Liquid fraction at different times

PCM+ Al2O3 PCM+ CuO

Time (s) Pure PCM
2% 4% 6% 2% 4% 6%

120 0.1638 0.1679 0.1726 0.1737 0.1693 0.1706 0.1715

240 0.4484 0.4663 0.4762 0.4813 0.4677 0.4722 0.4734

360 0.7856 0.8051 0.8166 0.8250 0.8053 0.8093 0.8022

 420 0.9372 0.9590 0.9717 0.9798 0.9574 0.9646 0.9587

7 Conclusion

In the present study, the performance of a heat sink with PCM is studied numerically. The

heat sink in this study is an aluminum-made system with rectangular fins. Paraffin is among

the materials considered for PCM systems. To simulate the melting process of PCM in a heat

sink, the enthalpy-porosity technique was employed. The results show that using PCM, heat

sink performance improved significantly and heat sink temperature with PCM is much less.

To evaluate the effect of heat flux on the heat sink with PCM, its performance in different

heat fluxes was compared. The results also showed that an increase in heat flux results in a

corresponding rise in melting rate and heat sink temperature. Low thermal conductivity is

among the defects of PCM that leads to its low melting rate. To handle this problem, several

solutions such as the addition of nanoparticles to the PCM have been provided by

researchers. In this study, the effects of adding copper and aluminum oxide nanoparticles to

the paraffin were investigated. The results show adding a small percentage of nanoparticles

(2%), heat sink performance can be improved until the complete melting of PCM. In this

connection, increasing the nanoparticles percentage, not only does not improve performance

heat sink but also declines it. Furthermore, by adding 2% of aluminum oxide nanoparticles, a

better performance in the heat sink is achieved compared to a case of adding copper oxide

with the same percentage. Despite the higher thermal conductivity of copper oxide, heat

transfer can be reduced due to high viscosity.

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• Performance of a finned heat sink with phase change material is simulated.
• Performance of heat sink has been assessed for two cases.
• By using of phase change material heat sink performance has been improved.
• By adding nanoparticles, performance of heat sink improved.