Effect of nanoparticles on the thermal behaviour of a NePCM-based heat sink

This work presents a computational investigation of the passive cooling of an electronic component in a latent heat storage unit filled with nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The electronic component is flush mounted on a substrate (motherboard) in the centre of the bottom wall of a rectangular enclosure. This electronic component generates heat at a constant and uniform volumetric rate. A 2D mathematical model based on the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy has been developed using the enthalpy- porosity method. The effect of natural convection in the molten NePCM is considered during the melting process. The centrepiece of this study is to improve the functionality of PCM trough insertion of nanoparticles. Computational surveys have been developed to evaluate the effect of volumetric concentration as well as the nanoparticles type by monitoring the evolution of the maximum temperature of the electronic component, the average Nusselt number and the velocity field. These investigations show that the volumetric concentration and the nanoparticles type are two main factors to take into account for an improvement in performance of the NePCM-based heat sink