International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i c h m t

Experimental studies on the use of a phase change material for cooling

mobile phones☆
G. Setoh a, F.L. Tan a,⁎, S.C. Fok b
a
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
b
The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 5 August 2010 This paper is to examine the cooling of mobile phones using a phase change material (PCM). Experimental
prototypes of mobile phones were fabricated using aluminum heat sinks with different numbers of fins filled
Keywords: with n-eicosane. The devices were subjected to steady-state and transient charging and discharging at
Phase change material different power settings. It was found that increasing the power increased the PCM melting rate. The internal
Mobile devices fins also helped to lower the maximum device temperature. These findings indicated that the use of PCM-
Thermal management
based heat sinks were effective for the cooling of mobile phones under intermittent moderate usage
Cooling
Heat sink
conditions.
Transient heating © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Electronic devices such as cellular phones, laptop computers, and
personal digital assistants (PDAs) have become common tools used by
many people in their daily lives. To satisfy consumers' needs, these
devices have been increasingly packed with more complex compo-
nents and features [1]. For example new mobile phones not only
provide calling and short message service (SMS) functions, but also
can be used as cameras, music players, video players and web
browsers. These additions of components in a mobile phone have
resulted in a higher power consumption with more heat generated.
Technology advancement has tremendously reduced the packag-
ing of most electronic devices. The compactness of smaller mobile
phones with more features has not only increased the power density,
but also decreased the external available surface area needed for heat
dissipation. This leads to a thermal management bottleneck as
described by Wang et al. [2]. In order to overcome this problem,
some effective cooling strategies are needed to support the further
development of many electronic devices.
Conventional forced convection cooling technique is a popular
approach used to cool many older electronic devices. Forced
convection, using fans, can enhance the heat transfer rate between
the heated electronic device and the ambient air. However, this
traditional approach may not be feasible for some newer electronic
devices because of cost, size, power consumption, reliability, weight,
noise, and aesthetic constraints [3]. For example, bulky and noisy fans
are not suitable for use in hand-held portable mobile phones [4].
☆ Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mfltan@ntu.edu.sg (F.L. Tan), scfokky@yahoo.com.au (S.C. Fok).
In recent years, the PCM has received wide attention as a potential
passive thermal management strategy for some hand-held portable
electronic devices. The PCM has a high heat of fusion. It melts and
solidifies at a certain temperature and is capable of storing and
releasing a large amount of energy. Heat is absorbed when the
material changes from solid to liquid and released when the liquid
solidifies. The cooling process using the PCM can be classified into
three phases. In phase 1, heat from the electronic device is absorbed to
gradually raise the temperature of the solid material to its melting
point. In phase 2, the PCM starts to melt at a constant temperature.
During this phase change, heat is absorbed without affecting the
temperature. There might be a small volume change during the
transition from the solid to liquid state. In phase 3, the solid PCM has
fully melted. Consequently, the temperature of the liquid PCM will
rise if heat is continually supplied. With the PCM, heat can be removed
from the hot components and used to melt the material. Although the
PCM can absorb a large amount of energy during the phase change
process, its cooling effectiveness may be limited to the time duration
for the solid material to turn completely to liquid [4]. As such the
operational time and usage pattern of the electronic device will be
affected by this cooling technique.
Many studies had been conducted to investigate the cooling
management of electronic devices using a PCM. Tan and Fok [5]
performed numerical analysis on the thermal management of a
mobile phone using a heat storage unit (HSU) that contains a PCM.
Hodes et al. [3] studied the transient thermal management of a
handset using a PCM. The findings from these works indicated that the
incorporation of fins in the heat sink can result in a better cooling
performance. To better understand the melting process, a numerical
investigation was conducted by Shatikian et al. [6] using a PCM-based
HSU with internal fins that open to air at the top. Studies on the

0735-1933/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2010.07.013
1404 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410

Fig. 1. Four types of the heat sink, (a) Case A without the PCM; (b) Case B with the PCM but no fins; (c) Case C with the PCM and 3 fins; and (d) Case D with the PCM and 6 fins.

optimum distribution of fins in heat sinks filled with a PCM were also attached to the heat sink is shown in Fig. 2. The heater was attached to
carried out by Saha et al. [7]. Although these works are important for the heat sink with pressure-sensitive adhesives. Special care was taken
the advancement of a PCM-based thermal management strategy, the to ensure that the heater and the heat sink were in full contact. Trapped
operational time and usage pattern of the device had not been air between them will impede heat transfer and may cause hot spots. A
considered. piece of 3 mm Teflon thermal insulation board with a working
This paper focuses on the experimental investigations on the temperature of 340 °C was attached below the heater. This board
thermal management of mobile phones using a PCM. Four heat sinks insulated and prevented heat loss from the heater to the plastic casing.
were fabricated and three were filled with the PCM. In the three PCM- The Teflon board was tightly secured to the aluminum heat sink with M3
filled heat sinks, internal fins were varied to investigate their metal screws. The contraption was enclosed in a plastic case using
effectiveness. Experiments were also conducted to study the thermal chloroform. The plastic casing was made of a 2 mm thick polycarbonate,
management performances under steady- and transient state heating which had a melting temperature of 135 °C and a thermal conductivity
conditions. Discharging of the PCM was also investigated based on of 0.21 W/mK. The properties of n-eicosane, aluminum, Teflon
different operational times and usage patterns. insulation board and the polycarbonate plastic casing are summarized
in Table 2.
2. Experimental setup and procedures K-type thermocouples were used to measure the temperatures.
They were calibrated using a calibration heat source, ThermaCal
The experimental setup was designed to simulate the operation of (model: 18B) to within an uncertainty of 0.5 °C. The thermocouples
a mobile phone when making outbound or inbound calls. Four
different heat sinks (Case A, Case B, Case C and Case D), as shown in
Fig. 1, were fabricated using Aluminum T6-6061. Case A was an
aluminum block without any PCM. Cases B, C and D contained cavities
for storing the PCM. The dimensions of Case A and Case B were the
same. Case A was used as a reference for comparison. To study the
effects of fins, Case C and Case D were fabricated with three fins and
six fins respectively. The thickness of all the internal fins is 2 mm. The
dimensions of the heat sinks were determined so that all heat sinks
will contain the same amount of PCM. External walls are 7 mm thick.
The dimensions of the different heat sinks are given in Table 1.
The PCM chosen is n-eicosane. With a melting temperature of
36.5o, n-eicosane will remain in its solid state at room temperature
and the melting process should occur during the mobile phone
operation. The n-eicosane has a high latent heat of melting at
247,300 J/kg. The volumes of n-eicosane in all heat sinks were kept
constant at 44,000 mm3. With these arrangements, the thermal
management systems should be able to absorb the heat generated
from the mobile phone under most usage conditions.
A 6.35 mm by 6.35 mm thermofoil heater (Minco HK5565R10.0L12B) Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of the heater attached to the heat sink, (a) side view; (b) top
was attached below each heat sink. The size of the heater is similar to view.
the focus area of the heat source of most mobile phones. The maximum
allowable current for the heater is 3 A. A schematic of the heater
Table 2
Properties of n-eicosane, aluminum, Teflon and polycarbonate.
Table 1
Dimensions of the heat sinks. Thermal Specific heat Density Melting
conductivity capacity (kg/m3) temperature
Heat sinks Dimensions (L × B × H)mm (W/mK) (J/kgK) (°C)

Case A (without the PCM) 85 × 72 × 21 n-Eicosane 0.1505 2460 769 36.5

Case B (with the PCM but no fins) 85 × 72 × 21 Aluminum 202.4 871 2719 660.37
Case C (With the PCM and 3 fins) 91 × 72 × 21 Teflon 0.20 1172 2200 335.00
Case D (With the PCM and 6 fins) 97 × 72 × 21 Polycarbonate 0.21 1170 1200 135.00
 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410 1405

Table 3
Operation sequence of the heater at 5 W.

Scenario Operation of heater

Light usage: 10 min a day
(in 1 h)
Moderate usage: 30 min a day
(in 1 h)
Heavy usage: 50 min a day
(in 1 h)
Case B: Heavy usage
Case D: Heavy usage
- On for 5 min, Off for 50 min, On for 5 min,
Discharging phase of 1 h
- On for 15 min, Off for 30 min, On for 15 min,
Discharging phase of 1 h
- On for 25 min, Off for 10 min, On for 25 min,
Discharging phase of 1 h
- On for 25 min, Off for 10 min, On for 25 min,
Off for 10 min, On for 25 min, Off for 10 min,
On for 25 min, Off for 10 min
- On for 25 min, Off for 10 min, On for 25 min,
Off for 10 min, On for 25 min, Off for 10 min,
On for 25 min, Off for 10 min

For transient state heating, instead of supplying power constantly

Fig. 3. Location of thermocouples.
were attached to the aluminum heat sink using Flashtape. The
locations of the thermocouples are shown in Fig. 3.
Thermal video system TVS-2000 MKII Series Compact Thermo was
used to capture the thermal images. This system allows non-contact
surface measurements to be made. The thermographic images are
displayed on a LCD monitor with a resolution of 256 gradients.
A schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 4. Each
assembled device was placed horizontally in a box to prevent
interference from surroundings. Without the box, the wind and
ambient temperature might affect the experimental results. The
heater was connected to an adjustable DC power supply, and the
thermocouples on the setup were connected to a data acquisition unit,
which was linked to a desktop computer. The thermal imager was
mounted on a tripod to capture the images of the heat sink as viewed
from the top.
All the assembled devices were placed in the horizontal position in
all experiments. For steady-state heating, the experiments were
conducted using three different power settings, i.e. 3 W, 4 W and 5 W.
These are within the power range of most mobile phones. For each
power setting, constant power was supplied to the heater and each
experiment lasted 120 min. At every 5 min interval, temperatures
from the thermocouples were recorded and the thermal image was
captured. After each experiment, Cases A, B, C and D were left to cool
by natural convection and the temperatures were monitored. This was
to investigate the discharging of the PCM in different setups.
for 120 min, the power supply was turned on and off to simulate three
different usage patterns. The usage patterns were determined based
on the statistical data of local calls made in a day and the typical
hourly operational modes. The patterns were classified into three
general usage scenarios, i.e. light, moderate, and heavy usage modes.
The three different scenarios are given in Table 3. After each
experiment, the power was turned off and Cases A, B, C and D were
left to cool for another 1 h to study their discharging processes. Case B
and Case D were further investigated. They were subjected to the
heavy usage mode of transient heating and discharging process for
four continuous cycles. The heating sequences are shown in Table 3.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of using the PCM
Case A simulated the operation of the mobile phone under natural
convection and without the use of the PCM inside the aluminum heat
sink. Case B simulated the operation of the mobile phone under
natural convection and using 44,000 mm3 or 33.8 g of the n-eicosane
PCM in the aluminum heat sink. The comparison of Case A and Case B
performances at 5 W is given in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 shows that the use of the PCM slows down the increase of the
heat sink temperature in Case B. This is due to the absorption of the
latent heat during the phase change process. After 120 min, the heat
sink temperature in Case A is 61 °C and the heat sink temperature in
Case B is 55 °C. There is a 6 °C difference between the two heat sinks.
The surface temperature of Case A is 49 °C. This is higher than the

Fig. 4. Schematic of the experimental setup.

1406 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410
Fig. 5. Comparison of the temperatures of Case A and Case B at 5 W.
surface temperature of Case B at 44 °C. With the PCM, the device
surface temperature can be maintained below 45 °C even after
120 min. This is useful in mobile phones as it prolongs the usage
time by ensuring that the devices will not heat up to uncomfortable
handling temperatures.
Thermal images of Case A and Case B at 5 W at 30, 60, 90 and
120 min are given in Fig. 6. The images show that Case A got heated up
much faster than Case B. The images also show that the temperature
distribution with the PCM is evenly spread with no hot spot.
3.2. Effect of power level
The power requirement of the mobile phone is device dependent
and can range from 3 W to 5 W. As such experiments were conducted
at different power levels. Case B was tested at 3 W, 4 W and 5 W. Fig. 7
shows the comparisons of the average heat sink temperatures of Case
B at the three power settings. Fig. 8 shows the average surface
temperatures of Case B at the three power levels. Fig. 7 reveals that the
power level at 3 W is too low to completely melt the PCM after
120 min. The PCM only managed to complete phase 1 of the transition
process at the end of the experiment, i.e. the PCM is still melting. It can
also be seen in Fig. 7 that the portion of the constant temperature,
where melting of the PCM occurs, is shorter at 5 W than 4 W. As the
power level increases, the final temperature of the heat sink after
Fig. 6. Thermal images of Case A and Case B at 5 W.
Fig. 7. Comparison of the heat sink temperature of Case B at 3 W, 4 W and 5 W.
120 min also increases. The temperature of the heat sink at 4 W is
49 °C after 120 min, compared with the temperature of 55 °C at 5 W.
As the melting process is completed faster at 5 W, the heat sink
experiences direct heat dissipation from the heater without latent
heat being absorbed by the liquid PCM. As such, the temperature
increases more than Case B at 4 W.
Fig. 8 shows that for the three different levels of power, the surface
temperature is highest at 5 W. This is because the PCM completed
phase 2 faster than the other two cases. The surface temperature at
5 W is 45 °C, whereas the surface temperature at 4 W is 41 °C. The
thermal images for Case B at 3 W, 4 W and 5 W are shown in Fig. 9.
The results confirmed the findings in Figs. 7 and 8. The temperature
distributions are even at the three power levels with no hot spots.
3.3. Effect of fins
Fig. 10 shows the heat sink temperature distributions of cases B, C
and D at 4 W. For a constant heat supply of 4 W, the PCM in all the
three cases undergo the three phases in the phase change process.
However, there are variations between Case B, Case C and Case D. For
Cases B, C and D, it took about the same time for phase 1 to complete.
Thereafter, the PCM starts to melt. For Case C and Case D, the time to
 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410 1407

Fig. 10. Heat sink temperature distribution of Case B, C and D at 4 W.

Fig. 8. Comparison of the surface temperature of Case B at 3 W, 4 W and 5 W.

complete phase 2 is shorter compared to Case B. Case C took about
35 min to complete phase 2. Case D took about 50 min and Case B took
60 min respectively to complete phase 2. The findings indicated that
the internal fins have compensated for the poor thermal conductivity
of the PCM. Hence, the internal fins increase the melting rate of the
PCM. Fig. 10 shows that Case D maintains a lower heat sink
temperature during the melting of the PCM. After the PCM has fully
melted, the temperature of Case D increases at a rapid rate. This
indicated that the increased number of fins helps to spread the heat to
the PCM. This helps to cool the heat sink.
Fig. 11 shows the surface temperature distributions for cases B, C
and D at 4 W. The surface temperature is slightly lower for Case D (at
40 °C) after 120 min, compared with Case C (at 41 °C) and Case B (at
42 °C).
3.4. Charging and discharging
Figs. 12 and 13 show the charging and discharging temperature
distributions at 5 W respectively for Case A and Case B. The heat sink
temperature of Case A, without the PCM, can exceed 60 °C. During
charging, the PCM in Case B can be seen to have undergone the three
phases in the phase change process. At the end of the discharging
period, Case A reaches 33 °C, compared with 36 °C for Case B. The
findings indicated that without the PCM in the heat sink, the rate of
discharge is much faster. For Case B, the PCM had fully melted during
charging. When the power is switched off, the PCM starts to release its
stored energy to the ambient. The melting or freezing temperature for
the PCM is 36.5 °C. The PCM has to change back to its solid phase at a
constant temperature. This delayed the rate of temperature drop back

Fig. 9. Thermal images of Case B at 3 W, 4 W and 5 W.

1408 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410
Fig. 11. Surface temperature distribution of Case B, C and D at 4 W.
Fig. 12. Charging and discharging temperature distribution of the heat sink for Case A at
5 W.
to the ambient temperature. Fig. 13 shows that the temperature of the
heat sink remains at approximately 36 °C after 240 min. At this
temperature, not all the PCM may have fully solidified. The finding
also indicated that the freezing phase may take a longer time than the
melting phase. This could be due to the poor thermal conductivity of
the PCM. As the temperature difference between the PCM and the
heat sink becomes smaller, the heat transfer rate would be reduced
due to the falling temperature gradient between them.
The results show that the PCM can be used to slow down the
temperature increase of the mobile phone. This will prolong the
device usage time. However, the usage period of the mobile phone
should be within the time needed to melt the PCM. Once the PCM has
fully melted, it will take a longer time for the liquid PCM to solidify.
Fig. 13. Charging and discharging temperature distribution of the heat sink for Case B at
5 W.
Fig. 14. Temperature distribution for Case A (light usage) at 5 W.
3.5. Effect of using the PCM for transient heating
Figs. 14 and 15 show the temperatures at the heat sinks and
surfaces for Case A and Case B under the light usage mode. Comparing
the heat sink and surface temperatures of Case A and Case B, there is
not much difference between the two devices due to the short
charging period associated with the light usage mode.
The temperatures of the heat sink and surface temperatures for
Case A and Case B are shown in Figs. 16 and 17 for the moderate usage
mode. The charging time is 15 min per period. From the figures, the
maximum temperature reached by the heat sink of Case A is 42 °C,
while the maximum temperature reached by the heat sink of Case B is
only 38 °C.
Figs. 18 and 19 show the temperature distributions of Case A and
Case B during the heavy usage mode. The charging time is 25 min per
period. From the figure, the maximum temperature for the heat
sink of Case A is 50 °C, while the maximum temperature for the heat
sink of Case B is 43 °C. This shows the potential of the PCM-based heat
sink for the cooling of the mobile phone under the heavy usage
condition.
Fig. 15. Temperature distribution for Case B (light usage) at 5 W.
 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410 1409

Fig. 16. Temperature distribution for Case A (moderate usage) at 5 W. Fig. 18. Temperature distribution for Case A (heavy usage) at 5 W.

3.6. Effect of fins on transient heating

Fig. 20 shows the temperature distribution of the heat sinks for

Cases B, C and D in the heavy usage mode at 5 W. All the 3 cases
contain the same amount of 44,000 mm3 of n-eicosane. The maximum
temperatures attained by cases B, C and D are 43 °C, 42 °C, and 38 °C
respectively. The results indicated that the fins can improve the
cooling performance under the heavy usage condition. This could be
due to the increase in the thermal conductivity between the heat sink
and the PCM. As more fins are used, the thermal conductivity is
enhanced. As such, heat dissipation from the heat source is easily
absorbed by the PCM as latent heat. During discharging, Fig. 20 shows
that the effect of the fins is negligible. There is not much difference in
terms of the temperature between the three cases.

3.6. Transient heating with more cycles

A total of four charging and discharging cycles (heavy usage mode)

were performed on Case B and Case D at 5 W. Fig. 21 shows the
Fig. 19. Temperature distribution for Case B (heavy usage) at 5 W.
comparison of the heat sink temperatures for Case B and D. Fig. 21

shows that the heat sink temperature for Case B is generally higher
than Case D. At the end of the fourth charging cycle, the heat sink
temperature for Case B is about 54 °C and the heat sink temperature
for Case D is 49 °C.
The results show that during discharging, the temperature drop is
very small. After four cycles of charging, which amounts to a total of

Fig. 20. Temperature distribution of the heat sink for Case B, C and D (heavy usage) at
Fig. 17. Temperature distribution for Case B (moderate usage) at 5 W. 5 W.
1410 G. Setoh et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 1403–1410
Fig. 21. Heat sink temperature for Case B and D at 5 W (four cycles charging and
discharging).
100 min, the PCM in both Case B and D had fully melted and had
entered phase 3. Thus it is unable to maintain the heat sink at a
reasonable temperature. The findings indicated that the transient
management of a mobile phone using the PCM is only effective before
the PCM completely melts. From Fig. 21, it can be seen that the
effectiveness of transient management is before the third charging
cycle, which amounts to only about 50 min of usage.
4. Conclusion
Experiments were conducted to observe the effects of using a PCM
on the cooling of mobile phones. Different PCM-based HSU were tested
to examine their cooling management characteristics. The devices were
subjected to different conditions including power levels and usage
patterns. The results indicated that the inclusion of the PCM could
stabilize the mobile phone temperature for a longer period to prolong its
usage. Without the PCM, the temperature of the mobile phone could
exceed 45 °C. This could cause user discomfort. A higher power level
shortens the time taken to completely melt the PCM and results in a
higher maximum device temperature. This factor is important as the
power level for future mobile phones is expected to rise with additional
functions. Adding internal fins into the heat sink helps to lower the
maximum device temperature. The findings indicated that the re-
solidification of the liquid PCM is still a problem that needs to be
resolved. The time for the PCM to completely solidify is longer than for it
to completely melt. As such, the PCM thermal management system used
in our experiments may only be suitable for cooling mobile phones
under intermittent moderate usage conditions. The duration of usage
should not be longer than the time needed to completely melt the PCM.
References
[1] H. Verkasalo, Handset-based measurement of mobile service demand and value,
Inf. J. Policy Regul. Strategy Telecommun. 10 (3) (2008) 51–69.
[2] X.Q. Wang, A.S. Mujumdar, C. Yap, Effect of orientation for phase change material
(PCM)-based heat sinks for transient thermal management of electric components,
Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 34 (2007) 801–808.
[3] M. Hodes, R.D. Weinstein, J.M. Piccini, L. Manzione, C. Chen, Transient thermal
management of a handset using phase change material, J. Electron. Packag. (2002)
419–426.
[4] F.L. Tan, C.P. Tso, Cooling of mobile electronic devices using phase change materials,
Appl. Therm. Eng. 24 (2004) 159–169.
[5] F.L. Tan, S.C. Fok, Thermal management of mobile phone using phase change
material. IEEE 9th Electronics Packaging Technology Conference, Dec 10–12,
Singapore, 2007, pp. 836–842.
[6] V. Shatikian, G. Ziskind, R. Letan, Numerical investigation of a PCM-based heat sink
with internal fins, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 48 (17) (2005) 3689–3706.
[7] S.K. Saha, K. Srinivasan, P. Dutta, Studies on optimum distribution of fins in heat
sinks filled with phase change materials, J. Heat Transfer 130 (3) (2008) 034505-1-
034505-4.