Abstract:
In this study, the thermal performance of a heat pipe using nano enhanced Phase Change
Material (PCM) as an energy storage medium for electronic cooling application is studied. The
PCM is placed around the adiabatic section of the heat pipe in which heat is absorbed and
released depending on the power inputs at the evaporator and fan speeds at the condenser.
Experiments are performed to obtain the evaporator, condenser and PCM temperature
distributions during the charge, discharge and simultaneous charge/discharge processes. In the
present study, Water, Tricosane and nano enhanced Tricosane are used as energy storage
materials. The nano enhanced PCMs are prepared by mixing different volume percentage (0.5%,
1% and 2%) of Al2O3 nanoparticles with Tricosane. Thermal conductivity of nano enhanced
PCM is measured and found to be enhanced to a maximum of 32% compared to pure Tricosane.
The effects of PCM filling volumes, fan speeds and heating power on the performance of cooling
module are also investigated. From this study it is found that the evaporator temperature of heat
pipe with nano enhanced PCM is decreased about 25.75%, which can save 53% of the fan power
compared with the traditional heat pipe. Also found that the nano enhanced PCM can store almost 30% of the energy supplied at the evaporator leading to the reduction in fan power
consumption.
