A thin-slab thermal storage volume that is sandwiched between a hand-held unit’s skin and a heat spreader that is in thermal contact with the electronics is analyzed. The storage volume is assumed to be filled with a conductivity enhanced, “dry” phase change material. Three storage volume configurations are considered. Configuration I is a single phase change material transitioning at one temperature. Configuration II is a two-layer system with phase change material-1 in thermal contact with the heat spreader and phase change material-2 in thermal contact with the unit’s skin. Configuration III consists of several layers, such that the phase transition temperature varies across the volume. A finite element model is built and numerical simulations provide temperature responses for each configuration. Results show that by employing a stratification of transition temperatures, relative to a non-stratified storage volume, up to a 20% decrease in recovery time is realized. Furthermore, utilization of two or more transition temperatures results in improved temperature control.

Volume Subject Area:
Thermal Management - System Level Thermal Management
Topics:
Cooling, Electronics, Phase transition temperature, Power density, Thermal energy storage, Storage, Flat heat pipes, Phase change materials, Skin, Temperature, Computer simulation, Electrical conductivity, Finite element model, Slabs, Temperature control, Thermal conductivity
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.