UC Riverside

The size of electronic devices is continually decreasing while the power consumption by these devices is increasing. As such the microchips in these devices dissipate more heat. Therefore, thermal management has become a challenging factor for designing electronic devices. With smaller electronic devices, the conventional air-cooled systems are not applicable for many cases. Therefore, new techniques are developed to keep the electronic packages in an acceptable operative temperature range. One of the alternative systems for conventional air cooling system is phase change material (PCM)-based heat sinks. In this work, innovative geometries of plate type fin and different materials were investigated. Our analysis has revealed that triangular cross-section and RT28HC organic PCM are the most efficient among investigated materials and geometries. The associated increased contact surface area in triangular cross-sectioned fin with PCM part and suitable melting temperature and latent heat of fusion of RT28HC with the selected processors make this cooling system more efficient.