A simulation study of HS-PCM thermal management performance for electronic device

Phase change material (PCM) has been widely used for the thermal management of electronic devices due to its high latent heat and the ability to maintain constant temperature during phase change. However, traditional PCM based thermal management devices face some issues such as PCM leakage and corrosion, separating PCM from the electronic device has the potential to address this issue. In the paper, a novel HS-PCM module in which the electronic device does not directly contact with PCM is numerically simulated, some factors affecting the electronic device temperature are discussed such as copper rods number, copper plate height, and PCM property. The results indicate that increasing the copper rods number can effectively lower the electronic device temperature while inevitably reducing the PCM mass which also shortens the effective temperature control time of the HS-PCM module, the number of 24 copper rods is appropriate. It is found that the electronic device temperature has no apparent difference when copper rods are replaced with a copper plate keeping the same volume which can give guidance for actual applications. Another PCM with lower melting point is introduced into the HS-PCM module and isolated from the original PCM by the copper plate, it is proved that the electronic chipboard temperature furtherly reduces when the PCM with a lower melting point is placed above the copper plate comparing with under the copper plate.