International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Thermal management of electronics: An experimental analysis of

triangular, rectangular and circular pin-fin heat sinks for various PCMs
Hafiz Muhammad Ali a,⇑, Muhammad Junaid Ashraf a, Ambra Giovannelli b, Muhammad Irfan a,
Talal Bin Irshad a, Hafiz Muhammad Hamid a, Faisal Hassan a, Adeel Arshad c
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, 47050, Pakistan
b
Department of Engineering, University of Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146 Rome, Italy
c
Fluids & Thermal Engineering (FLUTE) Research Group, Faulty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

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

Article history: This study implies experimental investigation for optimization of heat transfer in electronic integrated
Received 11 November 2017 circuits using close packed phase change materials (PCMs) filled pin-fin heat sinks. The aim of this study
Received in revised form 10 February 2018 is to find the most efficient pin-fin configuration filled with optimum PCM to extend the operating range
Accepted 12 February 2018
of electronic circuits. The experimental methodology is based upon variation of pin-fin configurations in
Available online 20 March 2018
rectangular, round and triangular cross-sections. Each configuration is allowed a pin-fin volumetric per-
centage of 9%. For analysis using PCM a volume fraction of 90% is maintained and six PCMs with different
Keywords:
thermo-physical properties (varying melting temperatures, latent heats and heat capacities) are selected.
Passive cooling
Heat sinks
These include paraffin wax, RT-54, RT-44, RT-35HC, SP-31 and n-eicosane. Moreover, the power levels
Phase change materials mimicking heat input range between 5 W and 8 W. The resulting information is analyzed for the perfor-
Circular mance of a heat sink with and without PCM. Besides that, PCM ascendency is manipulated in terms of
Triangular operational time, enhancement ratios, Stefan number and storage ratio. The outcomes suggest that trian-
Rectangular gular pin-fins are found to be the most effective pin-fin configuration for heat transfer both with and with-
pin-fins out PCM.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With advent of portable electronic devices, there is a popular
demand of making new devices more compact and efficient. Nev-
ertheless, there are growing concerns of the unavoidable waste
heat produced causing annihilation of device performance and reli-
ability. Active cooling has failed to overcome these problems due
its acoustic noise production, less efficient and energy consuming
narrative. However, passive cooling is being developed due to its
distinctive energy efficient features, abate throttling and upsurge
battery life. Passive cooling usually involves usage of phase change
materials (PCM) due to their high latent heat of fusion helping to
accomplish high storage density. Furthermore, their chemical sta-
bility and non-flammability adds safety to its good heat transfer
characteristics. The metal used for manufacturing heat sinks is
either copper or aluminum. They are usually referred as thermal
conductivity enhancers (TCEs) due to their high thermal conductiv-
ity. This feature helps in spreading heat uniformly throughout the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: h.m.ali@uettaxila.edu.pk (H.M. Ali).
heat sink. However, Low density, resistance to corrosion and easy
machinability make aluminum a preferable option for electronic
cooling. Therefore, researchers all around the world are working
on developing innovative passive cooling solutions. The objective
of this study is derived after reviewing the latest research works
published in highly reputed journals and the subsequent gap is
found to establish novelty.
Ye et al. [1] explored the performance of PCM based thermal
systems through experiment and simulation. The results indicated
that excellent thermal control effects can be achieved when the
phase change range of PCM brackets the temperature control set
point and is consistent with the fluctuation range of the ambient
temperature. When the required temperature control set point is
not within the optimal phase change range, the phase change
range bracketing the temperature control set point is recom-
mended. Xu et al. [2] worked on melting performance of PCMs in
a thermal energy storage unit. Porous media were employed to
enhance the thermal response of PCMs. The results showed that
the point of view of practical utilization of the porous material, sil-
icon carbide is recommended due to its relatively high conductiv-
ity, chemical inertness and low cost. Another review of different
electronic cooling methods was made by Murshed and Castro [3],

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.02.044
0017-9310/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284
Nomenclature
Notations
Symbol quantity [unit]
PCM phase change material
SPT set point temperature [°C]
Tp temperature of PCM [°C]
Tm melting temperature of PCM [°C]
T1 maximum temperature reached without PCM [°C]
l length of heat sink [mm]
t thickness of fin [mm]
h height of fin [mm]
hp height of PCM [mm]
w width of heat sink [mm]
wp width of the PCM [mm]
wb width of the fins [mm]
vf volume of the fin [mm3]
Vf total volume of fins [mm3]
Nf total number of fins
Vs total working volume of heat sink [mm3]
m mass of the PCM [kg]
Cp specific heat of PCM [kJ/kg K]
who termed the use of passive cooling techniques as next genera-
tion electronic cooling technology. Wei and Malen [4] studied the
benefits of spatially-dependent enhancements to thermal conduc-
tivity on the charge/discharge rates of PCMs. The subjects tested
could be applied in various applications and PCMs are employed
to harness rapidly varying energy sources.
Yang et al. [5] in his latest work investigated on the ability of
PCM based heat sink to cope ultra-high thermal shock both theo-
retically and numerically. Gallium based PCM heat sink using dif-
ferent copper fin structures is studied. The results suggested
usage of copper under ultra-high thermal shock condition. Factors
like geometric dimension of the fin and number of fins within the
limit were found to be crucial. Prieto et al. [6] presented an analysis
of the thermal performance of paraffin used as phase change mate-
rial (PCM) in heat exchangers within functioning temperatures
range of 80 °C and 30 °C. The PCM heat exchangers tested under
variable temperatures gave extensive range for the durations of
the phase change process and for the heat transfer rates. Kalbasi
and Salimpour [7] worked on to determine the efficiency of a heat
sink by addition of horizontal fins by maximizing the time required
to reach critical temperature. Constraints like the number of enclo-
sures, fins, heat sink aspect ratio and the PCM content are set. The
results suggested that maximum operational duration was limited
by an optimal fin number. Moreover, geometrical complexities of
the heat sink did not improve the performance of the enclosure.
Wang et al. [8] worked on PCM based heat sinks combined with
copper fibers for phase change heat transfer enhancement technol-
ogy. All the results show the enormous potential of enhancement
in the thermal conduction of PCMs. Wu et al. [9] used PCM board
for the thermal management of electronics which presented a large
thermal storage capacity and enhanced thermal conductivity,
demonstrating that they were suitable for cooling applications.
Sahoo et al. [10] reviewed and evaluated various research articles
on the passive cooling methods using PCM in electronic compo-
nents. This review enlisted all the recent studies performed on this
subject.
Ali and Arshad [11] studied passive cooling system using circu-
lar pin-fins and n-eicosane as PCM. Different configurations and
thickness of aluminum made circular pin-fin heat sinks were filled
with variable volumetric fractions of PCM. The results suggested
that heat sink with fin thickness of 3 mm had the highest enhance-
273
Q heat supplied [W]
QI input heat energy [kJ]
Q PCM heat energy stored in the PCM [kJ]
q_ heat flux rate [kW/m2]
tk latent heat phase duration [s]
kPCM thermal conductivity of PCM [(W/mK)]
t set time when temperature reaches T p [second]
T thermocouple inside the PCM
W thermocouple at side wall of Heat Sink
H thermocouple at base of Heat sink
Greek symbols
wPCM volumetric fraction of PCM
mPCM volume of PCM [m3/kg]
qp density of PCM [kg/m3]
Ɛ enhancement Ratio of PCM
g percent of the heat stored into the PCM
kPCM latent Heat of PCM [kJ/kg]

A cross-sectional area ratio
ment in operational time. Arshad et al. [12] analyzed the perfor-
mance of cooling system using paraffin wax in heat sinks for the
base line comparison. Here variation in fin thickness, volume frac-
tions of PCM and different heat fluxes are compared for better per-
formance. The results suggest that heat transfer for maximum
operating time is achieved for 2 mm thick square pin-fin heat sink
filled with PCM at volumetric fraction of 1.00. Arshad et al. [13,14]
also experimentally explored the thermal performance using n-
eicosane and paraffin wax as PCM filled pin-fin heat sinks of four
different configurations. Again the volumetric fraction and fin
thickness are analyzed. The results showed viable performance
with longer phase duration of latent heat. Enhancement ratios
revealed that 2 mm thick pin-fin heat sink had the maximum ther-
mal performance for n-eicosane, whilst for paraffin wax that a 3
mm pin diameter heat sink has best thermal performance. Similar
results were presented by Ali et al. [15]. Ashraf et al. [16] investi-
gated PCM filled heat sinks of square and circular configurations
for staggered and inline arrays. Keeping volume fraction constant
at 9%, six PCMs were used with heat input range of 4–8 W. The
results suggested circular inline as the most efficient choice for a
PCM based heat sink and square staggered for without PCM. Differ-
ent PCMs were suggested as suitable for the various power levels.
Similar investigation was performed by Baby and Balaji [17] for
improvement of the operation duration against critical SPT and
increased duration of latent heat. Pin-fins served as TCEs for a
constant volume fraction at power level in range of 2 W and 7 W.
Further research by same authors [18] also experimentally deter-
mined the thermal features of PCM based heat sinks by studying
variation of number of fins and volumetric fraction of PCM. These
factors were found to be crucial for enhancement in operation.
Another aspect [19] apart from the variation of pin-fin and PCM
volume fraction was inspected by introduction of Artificial Neural
hybrid algorithm used to find the heat sink configuration allowing
the maximization of the functionality for the two PCMs. One other
research by these authors [20] related the heat sink matrix perfor-
mance for system with and without PCM under different heat
inputs. The temperature of the wall of heat sink was seen to
reduced due to variation in operational sequence, whilst the inter-
mittent power supply also suggested decrease in temperature. Sri-
kanth et al. [21] investigated the heat transfer in PCM based
composite heat sinks with variable loads from 4 discrete heaters
274 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284
installed separately. Optimization using NSGA-II was done to con-
trol the ideal grouping by elongation of charging phase and mini-
mization of discharging time. Srikanth et al. [22] also reported
the results of a numerical and experimental optimization of PCM
based composite pin fin matrix heat sink. The main objective was
to stretch the operational time of the heating cycle and minimize
the time for the discharging cycle.
Fok et al. [23] performed experimentation on the usage of phase
change material (PCM) for heat transfer in electronic devices at
heat inputs from 3 to 5 W, for various working conditions. The
findings suggested that TCE pin-fins with PCM enhanced the usage
span. But the factors like the number of fins, the amount of PCM
and the power rating of the incoming heat were decisive. Hu
et al. [24] worked on intermittent thermal loading and latent heat
storage property of the PCM. This study was experimented on PCM
based hybrid pin fin. The author concluded based on specific work-
ing conditions PCMs are selected, but with the increase in quantity
of PCM the operational time stretched. Pakrouh et al. [25] pre-
sented RT44 based geometric optimization of pin fin heat sinks
by using the Taguchi method to numerically obtain results. Results
showed that convection, volumetric fraction of fins and PCM con-
siderably affected the optimization at critical SPTs. Numerical sim-
ulations were performed using FLUENT 14.0 thermal analysis tool
for various configurations of pin-fin heat sinks with and without
PCM. Dogan et al. [26] numerically investigated the effect of differ-
ent pin-fin configurations on convection and radiation heat trans-
fer. Using various equations heat transfer coefficients were
determined, suggesting the effect of geometrical factors affecting
the design of fin arrays.
Performance was studied for dissimilar air flow conditions and
duration of controlling the temperature of PCM for forced convec-
tion was recorded Anzar and Azeem [27]. Gharbi et al. [28] also
made an experimental investigation on the behavior of PCM for
passive cooling system for different configurations. This study
was conducted for pure PCM, PCM in a graphite matrix, and PCM
in a silicone matrix in a pin fin heat sinks. Results suggest that gra-
phite matrix filled with PCM dominates the silicon matrix. Kim
[29] worked on the cooling performance of vertical plate-fin heat
Fig. 1. Illustration of the Experimental Setup established.
sink under natural convection by variation in fin thickness. It
was reported that for the air-cooled heat sink, the thermal resis-
tance declined by 10% with increase in the fin thickness and
decrease with shortening pin-fin height.
After analyzing most recent research studies, many deductions
can be made. The latest approach towards the subject of PCMs
needs to be carried out for set point temperatures and thermal
storage capacity in PCMs. Moreover, the gap was found in studies
emphasizing the configurations of PCM based heat sinks. There-
fore, this present investigation brings attention to different pin-
fin geometries. Only numerical comparisons have been made for
different pin-fin configurations. Furthermore, these assessments
were compiled for convection or in other cases a single PCM. Six
PCMs are introduced to focus on thermo-physical properties of a
PCM based heat sink, including both organic and inorganic PCMs.
Moreover, all PCMs used are known for their stable performance
throughout the phase change cycles. They have high thermal stor-
age capacity per unit volume, limited super cooling, low flamma-
bility and are non-toxic. Another aspect used here is to provide
passive cooling solution for electronics with temperatures as high
as 100 °C. Thus, this study shall help to determine the best suited
PCM for thermal management of electronics and elongation of
operational span.
2. Experimental setup
To examine the thermal management performance of the PCM
based heat sink, an accurate and resourceful experimental setup
must be established. This is illustrated in Fig. 1.
2.1. Heat sinks
2.1.1. Heat sinks configuration
The heat sinks selected in this experiment are manufactured
from aluminum (Al-T6-6061), with the properties shown in Table 3.
The three configurations of heat sinks, namely rectangular, circular
and triangular are studied for pin fin enhancement. Circular shaped
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284
fins have a diameter of 3 mm, rectangular fin dimensions are
1:5  3 mm2 . Moreover, triangular fins base is 1.5 mm wide and
1.5 mm long. The total number of fins for circular configuration
is 42, whereas both rectangular and triangular cross-sections
account for a total of 64 number of fins. All these configurations
are shown in Fig. 2.
The total volume of heat sink is 57  56  20 mm and the volu-
metric fraction of fins in this work space is 9%. This is established
by Arshad et al. [12] and by Baby and Balaji [19]. The following
equation is used to compute the number of fins:
 
VS
Nf ¼ 0:9
vf
2.1.2. Characterization of TCE
Before manufacturing the aluminum heat sinks, a sample is pre-
pared for analysis of its chemical composition by Energy Dispersive
X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) using the TESCAN VEGA 3 [30] Scanning
Electron Microscope (SEM). This is needed as there are several
(a) : Circular pin -fins
(b) : Rectangular pin-fins
(c) : Triangular pin-fins
Fig. 2. Isometric view of Heat Sinks under study.
275
grades of aluminum in market and so the metallurgical composi-
tions of the sample used must equalize that of pure aluminum
for an effective TCE. Fig. 3 shows the electron image showing the
metal surface focused to the nearest millimeter. Furthermore,
Fig. 4 shows peaks of alloying elements produced in the analysis
with aluminum percentage of 96%. Other significant alloying ele-
ments are silicon and magnesium, confirming that the sample is
aluminum (Al-T6-6061).
Moreover, the heat sink is insulated completely, providing all
the heat to the heat sink. The components in the heat sink assem-
bly are shown as exploded view in Fig. 5, with details listed in
ð1Þ Table 1.
2.2. DC voltage regulator and heater specification
The mimicry of heat generation in this experimentation is done
using fiberglass insulated silicon rubber heaters (SRFG-202/10-P-
220 V) by OMEGAÒ of dimensions 50  50 mm2 ; which fits at the
base of heat sink in a niche of similar dimension.
The different power levels applied in this experiment with their
respective heat fluxes per unit of surface area of heater are listed in
Table 2. DC voltage controller from Keysight TechnologiesÒ
(6675A, 0–120 V/0-18A) provides the required power rating accu-
racy of voltage 0.04% + 120 mV and current 0.1% + 12 mA at the
ambient temperature of this investigation, i.e. 25  C. The power
supply mimicking the heat generation is between 5 W–8 W. This
heat input range is very crucial in many power electronics. The
applications vary from the cooling of simple consumer electronics
and computing processors to maintaining temperature in electric
vehicle batteries [31]. Furthermore, regulating optimum tempera-
ture in solar panels and cooling electronic circuits in space are also
operable in this heat input range [32,33].
2.3. PCMs selected for present study
PCM is the main constituent used for passive cooling system in
this investigation. Six PCMs are brought under study to compare
the effect of their various thermal and physical properties. The
PCMs are paraffin wax (Merck, Germany) [34], n-eicosane (Sigma-
Aldrich Italy) [35], RT-54, RT44, RT-35HC and SP-31(RUBITHERMÒ)
Fig. 3. Magnified view of the surface of aluminum heat sinks.
276 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284

Fig. 4. Metallurgical composition of aluminum and alloying elements in Al-T6-6061.

[36]. wPCM is constant for this experiment at 90% and is found using
Eq. (2):
 
mPCM
wPCM ¼ 0:9 ð2Þ
VS  Vf

All these materials vary with melting temperature ranging between

31 °C and 58 °C. All concerned properties of PCMs are enlisted in
Table 3. Here it is important to understand that PCMs are used
because of their heat absorbent trait which is depicted by latent
heat value.

2.4. Data acquisition system

In this experiment temperature change is accurately sensed

using the Agilent KeysightÒ 34972A data acquisition unit. The data
is transferred to the computer in form of a spreadsheet, through a
LAN cable. The interval between consecutive readings is set to 5 s,
while the total time for a set of reading is set to 90 min. For record-
ing change in temperature, eight K-type (wire diameter 0.5 mm,
OMEGAÒ) thermocouples are used. These thermocouples are cali-
brated using the ASTM standards [37] locating in the range of 0–
Fig. 5. Exploded view of the heat sink assembly. 100 °C with maximal error of ±0.1 °C (same calibration was used
in previous investigations, for example [38–42]. They are secured
on slots machined in the heat sink with Araldite TM epoxy. The ther-
mocouple locations are visualized in Fig. 6 and the exact positions
Table 1
Material specifications used for making the assembly of heat sink.
are enlisted in Table 4. The most important thermocouple positions
are those measuring the fluctuations of heat sink base temperature
Sr. Materials used Dimensions (mm) designated as H1 and H2 located at a length of 35 mm along the
no.
base. An average of both these values is used to interpret results.
1 Perspex sheet 71  70  5 The thermocouples measuring wall temperature are W1 to W4.
2 Silicon Rubber gasket 71  70  3 (with a cut out of 57  56)
Furthermore, the phase change of PCMs is monitored at positions
3 Rubber Pad for heat sink 220  220  25 (with a cut out of 114
 114) T1, T2 and T3, which are projected at different heights with refer-
4 Rubber pad for heat sink 220  220  65 ence to the base. These different positions signify the importance
bottom of depth of PCM as it melts.

3. Results and discussion

Table 2
Power values with their subsequent heat fluxes. 3.1. Base temperature comparison
Power (W) 5 6 7 8

q_ (kW/m2) 2 2.4 2.8 3.2 As the base of the heat sinks imitates the surface of ICs, temper-
ature gain at this section is an important consideration for this
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284 277

Table 3
Properties of different materials involved in experiment.

Material k (W/mK) C (kJ/kgK) L (kJ/kg) Tm (°C) q (kg/m3)

Aluminum 180 963 289 660.4 2700(S)
Rubber Pad 0.043 1.23 – – 2500(S)
Perplex Sheet 0.043 1.47 – 160 1180
Paraffin Wax 0.167 (L) 2.8 173.6 56–58 790(L)
0.212(S) 880(S)
n-Eicosane 0.160 (L) 2.2(L) 237.4 36.5 780(L)
0.40(S) 1.9(S) 820(S)
RT-54 0.2 2 200 54 800(L)
850(S)
RT-44 0.2 2 250 44 700(L)
800(S)
RT-35HC 0.2 3 240 34 770(L)
880(S)
Sp-31 0.6 2 210 31 1300(L)
1350(S)

study. Less temperature in this region accounts for higher heat

transfer rate, prolonging the functionality of any electronic device.

3.1.1. The pin fin configuration comparison (without PCM)

A comparison is done between the heat sinks before pouring in
the PCMs. This comparison is done for all 4 power levels stated, but
for reference only the minimum and maximum power levels that
5 W and 8 W are taken into consideration here. These results are
shown for 5 W and 8 W in Fig. 7a and 7b respectively.
In Fig. 7a it can be observed that all three tested heat sinks pos-
sess a smooth curve and show a constant difference in their plots
along the operation time of 90 min. The results show that circular
Fig. 6. Position of thermocouples across heat sink. pin-fins are least effective heat transfer configuration reaching a
maximum temperature of 61 °C. The rectangular pin-fins are seem-
ingly better than the circular pin-fins, with peak at 54 °C at the end
Table 4
of 90 min duration. Triangular pin-fin configuration is seen to allow
Detail positioning of all thermocouples located on pin-fin heat sink.
most heat transfer with maximum heat absorbed at 47 °C. At 8 W,
Thermocouple Position (mm) Location on side walls a similar trend can be seen from Fig. 7b. However, here the differ-
T1 20 1 ence between plot lines of heat sinks is narrowed. The maximum
T2 15 2 temperatures recorded are 73 °C and 69 °C for circular and rectan-
T3 10 3
gular fins respectively. Moreover, triangular shaped pin-fins still
W1 34 1
W2 34 2 prove their dominance in heat transfer at the peak temperature
W3 34 3 of 65 °C, which is quite low as compared to the pin-fins of other
H1, H2 1:5  35 mm2 two cross-sections. This concludes that triangular shaped pin-fins

(a) At 5 W (b) At 8 W
Fig. 7. The temperature distribution of different configurations at various heat inputs.
278 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284

provide more heat transfer as compared to rectangular ones, which
is seemingly better than the circular pin-fins.
3.1.2. The comparison of Pin-fin configuration (with PCM)
Now different PCMs are introduced into the system and their
relative effect on the heat transfer of the heat sinks is studied. Here
again the citation is done for power levels of 5 W and 8 W. For the
ease of comparison, PCMs are divided into two groups, the low
melting PCMs and the high melting PCMs. Low melting PCMs
include n-eicosane, RT-35HC and SP-31, as shown in Fig. 8a and
8b. Whereas high melting PCMs are RT-44, RT-54 and paraffin
wax compared in Fig. 9a and 9b.
For low melting PCMs, it is evident from Fig. 8a that at 5 W, SP-
31 has a smooth graphical trend for all three heat sinks. Although
the graphical plots for SP-31 are narrow, pin-fins with circular
cross-section shows higher temperature profile than its other
counterparts. However, between rectangular and triangular pin-
fin configurations, the latter has higher heat transfer rate. More-
over, for materials like n-eicosane and RT-35HC, the circular and
rectangular pin-fins follow each other’s profile narrowly. The tem-
perature profile for triangular pin-fins for the PCMs n-eicosane and
RT-35HC overlap each other for 82 min, then they are seen to
diverge. These materials show different behavior at 8 W in
Fig. 8b, where for SP-31 circular configuration has highest heat
transfer rate until the 45th min, from where it turns to be the low-
est. Similarly, the rectangular configuration has highest tempera-
ture profile till the 45th min and then comes between the
triangular and circular pin-fins. Furthermore, for n-eicosane circu-
lar and rectangular pin-fins again have a narrow gap and even over-
lap between 20 min and 30 min of operational time. Triangular
pin-fins have higher cooling rate reaching a maximum temperature
of 62 °C. The temperature profile of circular and rectangular shapes
for RT-35HC overlap each other and have similar behavior, whilst
the triangular formation has much lower temperature contour at
peak temperature of 60 °C.
For the high melting PCMs, the comparison is drawn in Fig. 9a
and b for 5 W and 8 W respectively. Considering Fig. 9a, at 5 W
the PCM RT-44 has a temperature profile with steep curve initially
and then a constant temperature is maintained. The profiles for cir-
cular and rectangular shapes almost overlap one another and there

(a) At 5 W

(b) at 8 W
Fig. 8. Comparison between rectangular, round and triangular pin-fins for low melting PCMs.
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284 279

(a) At 5 W

(b) at 8 W
Fig. 9. Comparison between rectangular, round and triangular pin-fins for high melting PCMs.

is no visible difference, both having maximum temperature of 44
°C. Triangular pin-fins maintain a much lower thermal profile and
peaks at 41 °C. A similar trend is seen by the circular and rectangu-
lar pin-fin temperature curves for RT-54, where both show inter-
section throughout this time and peak at 50 °C. Triangular
thermal profile is much lower and marks a much lower peak tem-
perature at 40 °C. Paraffin Wax has a regular smooth profile for all
three heat sinks. Triangular pin-fins show highest cooling rate at
46 °C, followed by rectangular at 48 °C and then the circular pin-
fins at 49 °C. Observing these PCMs at 8 W in Fig. 9b, it is apparent
that paraffin wax has same temperature profile for both circular
and rectangular pin-fins. Triangular pin-fins maintain a higher heat
transfer rate with narrow temperature difference of 2 °C with the
other heat sinks. RT-54 has clear difference shown in the curves
of all the pin-fin geometries. For RT-44 the trend lines are irregular
in all three cases. However, for both RT-54 and RT-44 the obvious is
that triangular is better than rectangular which is better than cir-
cular pin-fins.
So, from the overall base temperature comparison with and
without PCM, it is quite clear that triangular configuration is the
most effective heat transfer choice for all cases. It is followed by
rectangular pin-fins as the second-best choice and circular as the
least. There are many explanations to this behavior of heat sinks.
Firstly, taking the cross-sectional area ratio using Eq. (3), of
rectangular pin-fins to circular pin-fins, as rectangular is dominant
to circular shape.
Adominant shape

A ¼ ð3Þ
Aweaker shape
It is obtained
A ¼ 0:97, depicting that the total cross-sectional area
of circular configuration is more than the cross-sectional area of
rectangular configuration. Moreover, taking cross-sectional area
ratio of triangular and rectangular shapes, it is found that

A ¼ 0:25. This states that higher cross-sectional area of the pin-
fins adversely affects the heat transfer rate for circular and rectan-
280 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284

gular configurations. Same logic has been verified in work of Ashraf

et al. [16]. While there are a low number of fins for circular cross-
section, there is a significant decrease in convection within the heat
sink, in a way that there would be no more connection between the
PCM in this region between the fins. Increasing the number of fins
elevates convection, hence the reason why rectangular and triangu-
lar shapes dominate circular pin-fins. Finally, despite the triangular
and rectangular having same number of pin-fins, the former is bet-
ter than the latter because of its less cross-sectional area as stated
before.

3.2. Comparison with respect to PCMs

3.2.1. Effect of Stefan number

To cater the study of the relative effect of different PCMs, a com-
parison is presented in column chart for time vs. Stefan number.
These are shown in Fig. 10 for low melting PCMs at SPT of 45 °C
and for high melting PCMs at SPT of 60 °C in Fig. 11. Here it is
important to know that Stefan number represents the amount of
(a) Stefan number vs. time chart for n-eicosane
superheat gained by the PCM [21]. It is a dimensionless number
given by Eq. (4) [17]. The calculations for different PCMs are shown
in Table 5.
QC P
Ste ¼ ð4Þ
kPCM lkPCM
From Table 5 it is evident that Stefan number varies over the range
of given PCMs. A linear relationship is observed between the Stefan
number and the time required to melt the PCM. As the Stefan num-
ber increases, the effective time to reach SPT decreases for the three
heat sink configurations studied, presented in Fig. 10a. It is impor-
tant to recognize the fact that a higher Stefan number results from a
high value of Q because all other factors remain constant for a single
PCM. This analysis determines the operational capacity of the heat
sink for the given power level and time span. This shall help in
studying the behavior of PCMs with time.
In Fig. 10a–c the low melting PCMs namely n-eicosane, RT-
35HC and SP-31 are respectively presented for SPT of 45 °C. Study-
ing Fig. 10a, for n-eicosane triangular configuration has the highest
operational time of 120 min followed by rectangular and circular
(b) Stefan number vs. time chart for RT-35HC
pin-fins. As the Stefan number increases to 8, the operational time
for all three heat sinks decreases to a fraction of its initial value at
Stefan number 5. This shows the effect of changing Stefan number
on operational time. Similarly, for RT-35HC and SP-31 it is obvious
from Fig. 10b and 10c that triangular has higher operational dura-
tion again across all values of Stefan number followed by rectangu-
lar and then circular pin-fins. However, for SP-31 triangular pin-fins
have highest operational duration of nearly 290 min at 5 W or Ste-
fan number of 4 but it drops to 95 min at 8 W or Stefan number of
6.35. For RT-35HC triangular configuration has working time of
190 min at 5 W or Stefan number of 15.625, which decreases to
48 min at 8 W or equivalent Stefan number of 25. In conclusion,
SP-31 has highest operational duration at SPT of 45 °C for all three
heat sinks at all power levels. Additionally, it has the lowest values
of Stefan number as well. The basic reason why it has a higher
value of operational time is due to its high density, which slows
down the process of melting and elongates its latent heat phase,
as it was seen in Fig. 9. Among n-eicosane and RT-35HC, the latter
(c) Stefan number vs. time chart for SP-31
is a better option due to its higher (a) Stefan number vs. time chart
for n-eicosane density. In addition, it also allows a volume expan- Fig. 10. Stefan number vs. time chart comparing the three heat sinks for low
sion of 12% [36]. So, operational time decreases with increase in melting PCMs at SPT of 45 °C.
Stefan number.
The high melting PCMs, i.e. RT-44, paraffin wax and RT-54 are over, the rectangular and circular heat sinks show less operational
shown in Fig. 11a, b and c respectively. Studying Fig. 11a, for a Ste- time than the triangular configuration. Fig. 11b shows the analysis
fan number of 10 the time to reach SPT of 60 °C is 240 min for tri- for paraffin wax and the maximum working time of 204 min is
angular pin-fin having RT-44 as the PCM. This time span decreases seen at Stefan number of 19 or power level of 5 W. This drops to
to 108 min at Stefan number of 16 or power level of 8 W. More- almost half at the power level of 8 W at the Stefan number of
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284
(a) Stefan number vs. time chart for RT-44
(b) Stefan number vs. time chart for paraffin wax
(c) Stefan number vs. time chart for RT-54
Fig. 11. Stefan number vs. time chart comparing the three heat sinks for high
melting PCMs at SPT of 60 °C.
30.4. The operational time span for rectangular is more than circu-
lar at Stefan number of 19 and 22.8, but they show same working
scheme with equal time span at increased Stefan number of 26.6
281
and 30.4. This indicates that at higher power levels the shape of
pin-fins does not affect the operational performance for paraffin
wax. Viewing column chart for RT-54 in Fig. 11c, at SPT of 60 °C
the triangular pin-fins show maximum efficiency in work span
and reach a time of 250 min at initial Stefan number of 12.5. The
difference in operational effectiveness in units of time for triangu-
lar and other heat sinks is quite high. Similar behavior is seen at
increasing Stefan numbers, and a unit time of 125 min is recorded
at Stefan number of 20 for power level of 8 W. In summary, for tri-
angular configuration at SPT of 60 °C the most effective PCM elon-
gating the operational time is RT-54. However, considering all
three pin-fin configurations, RT-44 can be sensed as best option
for SPT of 60 °C.
3.2.2. The effect of PCM quantity
From all the above comparisons, it is obvious that triangular
configuration is the most effective choice for a PCM based heat
sink. Keeping that in view the storage ratio is calculated for differ-
ent PCMs and thus their heat storing capabilities are judged. The
amount of energy gained by a material is the amount of energy
stored and as the base temperature decreases, this energy is later
released. When the PCM completely melts, the heat energy stored
in the PCM and the input heat energy generated are obtained by
Eqs. (5) and (6). At last, the heat storage ratio is calculated by Eq.
(7) [24].
w
Q PCM ¼ lCwp hp qp ððT m  T 1 Þ þ kPCM þ CðT p  T m  DTÞÞ
wb þ wp
ð5Þ
_
Q I ¼ qlðwb þ wp Þt set ð6Þ
 
Q PCM
g¼  100% ð7Þ
QI
In the Fig. 12 the data pillars filled with red1 color shows the heat
storage ratio of the paraffin wax and similarly the other ones show
the heat storage ratio of the range of PCMs involved in this study.
The bar chart is compared over low power level of 5 W and high-
power level of 8 W. It can be observed that at the power level of 5
W RT-35HC has highest storage ratio of nearly 68%. SP-31 follows
with second highest storage ratio equalizing 63%. The third in line
is RT-44 followed by n-eicosane and RT-54. The least storage ratio
is obtained for paraffin wax. For 8 W a similar behavior is observed
in the PCMs except that the storage ratio drops to nearly half of that
at 5 W. Here RT-35HC again shows maximum storage ratio of 38.5%,
whereas SP-31 has maximum heat energy storage ratio of 36%. The
reason behind this high storage ratio of RT-35HC is its high latent
heat and higher density then its counterparts except SP-31 of course.
SP-31 lags because of its lower latent heat capacity than RT-35HC. It
is obvious that RT-44 has highest latent heat potential among all
PCMs involved. Nevertheless, the reason it is placed third is due to
its lower density. However, this does not stop paraffin wax and
RT-54 from being counted among the least effective PCMs in this cat-
egory due to their low latent heats. The partial enthalpy distribution
for RT-35HC is shown in Fig. 13, measured using 3-layer calorimeter
[36].
3.2.3. Comparison of enhancement ratios
The enhancement ratio using PCM is the ratio of time taken to
reach a critical SPT of a PCM based heat sink to the time required
by same heat sink without PCM. This is illustrated in scattered
point graph in Fig. 14 for triangular pin-fin configuration. Fig. 14a
1
For interpretation of color in Fig. 12, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.
282 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284

Table 5
Stefan number for different PCMs at given power levels.

Q Paraffin wax n-eicosane RT-44 RT-54 RT-35HC SP-31

5 19.02 5 10 12.5 15.63 3.97
6 22.82 6 12 15 18.75 4.76
7 26.63 7 14 17.5 21.88 5.56
8 30.43 8 16 20 25 6.35

(a) At SPT of 45

Fig. 12. Heat storage ratio of the triangular configuration for given PCMs at 5 W and
8 W.

(b) At SPT of 60
Fig. 13. Partial enthalpy distribution for RT-35HC.
Fig. 14. Enhancement ratio of different PCMs.

accounts for the low melting PCMs at SPT of 45 °C, whereas the
high melting PCMs at SPT of 60 °C are dealt in Fig. 14b. The critical
SPT is defined as the maximum working temperature that an elec-
tronic device withstands without halt. These two SPTs are set as
the limit to control an electronic device temperature without get-
ting it damaged. Two different SPTs are selected to analyze the
operating range for the various PCMs used in this experiment,
either having low or high melting point.
So, from Fig. 14a it is clear that SP-31 has the highest enhance-
ment ratio at SPT of 45 °C for all given power levels. The enhance-
ment ratio is seen to increase by 1 point from 5 W to 6 W, but it
decreases thereon. However, the other PCMs namely RT-35HC
and n-eicosane show slight difference of 0.7 at low heat input of
5 W, otherwise they show almost equal enhancement ratios at all
other power levels. Yet again the reason of high enhancement ratio
of SP-31 is its high density as well as high latent heat fusion, which
stretches its melting phase. RT-35HC and n-eicosane have similar
behavior because of their same melting point and nearly equiva-
lent latent heat. This behavior helps to establish that generally
the PCMs with low melting point have a decreasing enhancement
ratio after reaching pinnacle at optimum power level of 6 W.
Fig. 14b shows the enhancement ratios for high melting PCMs
i.e. RT-44, RT-54 and paraffin wax at SPT of 60 °C. From Fig. 14b,
it is revealed that RT-54 has the highest enhancement in operation
across all the power levels. The enhancement ratio decreases
slightly from 5 W to 6 W, but then the ratio increases constantly.
RT-44 has second highest enhancement ratio with paraffin wax
lagging by some points showing least effectiveness. They however
equalize at 6 W and then follow an increasing profile. From this
 H.M. Ali et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 123 (2018) 272–284
analysis, RT-54 is found as the most effective option at SPT of 60 °C
due to its higher melting point and higher density than RT-44,
whereas it outlooks paraffin due to its higher latent heat. Paraffin
wax is least efficient due to its very low latent heat. In general,
the PCMs with high melting point have an increasing enhancement
ratio profile, making it obvious that they offer more enhancements
in operational time at higher power levels.
4. Conclusion
Tentative study was conducted to assess the effect of various
aspects on passive cooling of integrated circuits. Experimental
setup designed had an input power levels between 5 W and 8 W,
with pin-fin configurations varying between rectangular, round
and triangular cross-sections. There were six PCMs broadly studied
under similar operating conditions. The volume fraction of pin-fins
in the heat sink was constant at 9% whilst that for PCM was 90%.
Substantial outcomes are construed and described as follows:
1. In the analysis without PCM triangular shaped pin-fins
remained dominant over the others, whereas among others
rectangular was a better option than the circular pin-fins.
2. After introduction of PCMs, similar results were recorded with
triangular as the most effective configuration whilst rectangular
and circular pin-fins followed subsequently. The reason for this
behavior was assessed to be the less surface area ratio and more
number of pin-fins.
3. In the Stefan number analysis, lowest Stefan number was in
case of SP-31 whilst highest Stefan number was found for paraf-
fin wax. This analysis determined the operational time span
with SP-31 as the best option for the critical SPT of 45 °C. More-
over, for triangular pin-fin configuration at SPT of 60 °C the most
effective PCM was RT-54. However, considering all three heat
sinks, RT-44 is the best choice for SPT of 60 °C.
4. For the storage ratio examination, it is found that RT-35HC has
highest storage ratio of 68% at 5 W and 38.5% at 8 W. The sec-
ond highest storage ratio was for SP-31, with 63% at 5 W and
36% at 8 W.
5. In case of enhancement ratio w.r.t PCM for triangular configura-
tion, SP-31 has highest enhancement at SPT of 45 °C due to its
high density, whilst RT-54 is sensed as best option for critical
SPT of 60 °C.
Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interests regarding this paper.
Acknowledgments
The corresponding author wishes to acknowledge the financial
support provided by the University of Engineering and Technology,
Taxila, Pakistan under the faculty research project through
approval letter No. UET/ASR&TD/RG-1001.
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