A transient thermal analysis is performed to investigate thermal control of power semiconductors using phase change materials, and to compare the performance of this approach to that of copper heat sinks. Both the melting of the phase change material under a transient power spike input, as well as the resolidification process, are considered. Phase change materials of different kinds (paraffin waxes and metallic alloys) are considered, with and without the use of thermal conductivity enhancers. Simple expressions for the melt depth, melting time and temperature distribution are presented in terms of the dimensions of the heat sink and the thermophysical properties of the phase change material, to aid in the design of passive thermal control systems. The simplified analytical expressions are verified against numerical simulations, and are shown to be excellent tools for design calculations. The suppression of junction temperatures achieved by the use of phase change materials when compared to the performance with copper heat sinks is illustrated. Merits of employing phase change materials for pulsed power electronics cooling applications are discussed.

Issue Section:
Research Paper
Keywords:
copper, transient analysis, metal foams, bismuth alloys, tin alloys, lead alloys, indium alloys, heat sinks, thermal management (packaging), thermal conductivity, thermal analysis, thermal energy storage, temperature distribution, solidification, melting, semiconductor device packaging, power semiconductor devices
Topics:
Copper, Heat sinks, Junctions, Melting, Phase change materials, Temperature, Thermal conductivity, Transients (Dynamics), Thermal management, Energy storage, Heat, Metal foams, Alloys, Temperature distribution
1.
Evans
,
A. G.
,
He
,
M. Y.
,
Hutchinson
,
J. W.
, and
Shaw
,
M.
,
2001
, “
Temperature Distribution in Advanced Power Electronics Systems and the effect of Phase Change Materials on Temperature Suppression during Power Pulses
,”
ASME J. Electron. Packag.
,
123
, pp.
211
–
217
.
2.
Lu
,
T. J.
,
2000
, “
Thermal Management of High Power Electronics with Phase Change Cooling
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
43
, pp.
2245
–
2256
.
3.
Incropera, F. P., and DeWitt, D. P., 1998, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
4.
Ishizuka
,
M.
, and
Fukuoka
,
Y.
,
1991
, “
Development of a New High Density Package Cooling Technique Using Low Melting Point Alloys
,”
Proceedings ASME/JSME Joint Thermal Engineering Conference
,
2
, pp.
375
–
380
.
5.
Pal
,
D.
, and
Joshi
,
Y. K.
,
2001
, “
Melting in a Side Heated Tall Enclosure by a Uniformly Dissipating Heat Source
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
44
, pp.
375
–
387
.
6.
Krishnan, S., 2002, “Analysis of Phase Change Energy Storage Systems for Pulsed Power Dissipation,” M.S.M.E. Thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
7.
Simpson
,
J. E.
,
Garimella
,
S. V.
, and
de Groh
III, H. C.,
2002
, “
An Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Bridgman Growth of Succinonitrile
,”
J. Thermophys. Heat Transfer
,
16
, pp.
324
–
335
.
8.
Ferziger, J. H., Peric, M., 1996, Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
9.
Dantzig
,
J. A.
,
1989
, “
Modeling Liquid-Solid Phase Changes with Melt Convection
,”
Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng.
,
28
, pp.
1769
–
1785
.
10.
Alexiades, V., and Solomon, A. D., 1993, Mathematical Modeling of Melting and Freezing Processes, Hemisphere, Washington.
11.
Arpaci, V. S., 1972, Conduction Heat Transfer, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts.
12.
Carslaw, H. S., and Jaeger, J. C., 1959, Conduction of Heat in Solids, Oxford, London.
13.
Solomon
,
A. D.
,
1980
, “
On the Melting Time of a Simple Body with a Convection Boundary Condition
,”
Lett. Heat Mass Transfer
,
7
, pp.
183
–
188
.
14.
Calmidi
,
V. V.
, and
Mahajan
,
R. L.
,
1999
, “
The Effective Thermal Conductivity of High Porosity Fibrous Metal Foams
,”
ASME J. Heat Transfer
,
121
, pp.
466
–
471
.
15.
Krishnan, S., Murthy, J. Y., and Garimella, S. V., 2002, “A Two-temperature Model for the Analysis of Passive Thermal Control Systems for Electronics,” Proceedings of IMECE’02, Paper No. IMECE2002-33335.
16.
Minkowycz
,
W. J.
,
Haji-Sheikh
,
A.
, and
Vafai
,
K.
,
1999
, “
On Departure from Local Thermal Equilibrium in Porous Media Due to Rapidly Changing Heat Source: the Sparrow Number
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
,
42
, pp.
3373
–
3385
.
Copyright © 2004
 by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.