International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

Experimental passive electronics cooling: Parametric investigation of

pin-fin geometries and efficient phase change materials
Muhammad Junaid Ashraf a, Hafiz Muhammad Ali a,b,⇑, Hazrat Usman a, Adeel Arshad c,d
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan
b
Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRE-RE), King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, HITEC University, Taxila, Pakistan
d
Fluids & Thermal Engineering 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 experimental investigation focuses on the optimization of passive cooling system using extruded
Received 28 March 2017 finned surfaces with phase change materials (PCMs) as the thermal conductivity enhancers (TCEs). The
Received in revised form 23 July 2017 study develops comparison between fins of circular and square cross-sectional area, made of aluminium.
Accepted 24 July 2017
Further classification is done in configuration in terms of staggered and inline arrays. The volume fraction
of fins is kept constant at 9% of total volume of heat sink. The purpose is to single out the better arrange-
ment with and without PCM. Six PCMs of varying phase change temperature and heat capacities, namely
Keywords:
Paraffin wax, RT-54, RT-44, RT-35HC, SP-31 and n-eicosane are selected for thermal conductivity
Phase change materials
Thermal conductivity enhancers
enhancement. The volume fraction of PCM is also constant at 90% of the heat sink volume, giving a
Staggered and inline arrays 10% volume for expansion after melting. Moreover, power levels are used in a range of 4–8 W with an
Circular and square cross-sectional pin–fin increment of 1 W. The analysis was carried out on graphical trends produced and explanations were
heat sinks given accordingly. The most effective PCMs were also discussed considering their enhancement time,
Enhancement time enhancement ratios and other material properties. Finally, the results were justified by the scientific
Enhancement ratios knowledge and found in compliance with the work of famous researchers as well.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Husseinizadeh et al. [1] examined both experimentally and

Thermal control of modern electronics circuitry has become
increasingly complex and it is very essential to ensure its reliabil-
ity, durability and user comfort. Researchers are always in search
of finding new effective solutions for thermal management of elec-
tronic devices. The choice of cooling techniques depends on num-
ber of factors. Active cooling and all other techniques have proven
to be incapable of fulfilling the demands of modern electronic
industries as it consumes power itself. So, passive cooling tech-
niques employing PCM based heat sinks are used widely in these
portable devices like computers, mobile phones, personal digital
assistants, laptops and so on. Effective thermal management by
incorporating PCM based heat sinks in these devices have led to
increase in its functionalities, reliability, less probability to internal
damages and failure, ultimately to stretch their useful life. Many
studies both experimentally and numerically have been conducted
to offer a deep insight into thermal management of electronic
devices using PCM based heat storages.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: h.m.ali@uettaxila.edu.pk, hafizmali@kfupm.edu.sa (H.M. Ali).
numerically PCM based heat sinks to study the effect of various
configurations of internal fins. The PCM RT-80 was filled in differ-
ent heat sinks of constant overall dimensions. From the results
obtained it was seen that by increasing number of fins, fin height
and input power level had improved the thermal performance
appreciably while increasing fins thickness had only marginal
improvement. Similarly, Pakrouh et al. [2] presented numerical
method for geometric optimization of pin finned heat sinks by cou-
pling Taguchi and simulation method. For optimization, the effect
of all critical parameters involving fins’ number, thickness, base
thickness, height as well as PCM percentage were explored. All
heat sinks filled with RT-44 and critical temperatures
50
C;60
C;70
C and 80
C were selected for analysing the results.
The 2 mm thick fins performance was highest for 50
C while 4 mm
thick fins performance was highest for all temperatures. Base
thickness contributed less than the other parameters. Mahmoud
et al. [3] investigated experimentally the effect of honeycomb
structure in heat sink to compare its performance with finned heat
sink. Six different types of PCMs and total six heat sinks, one with
single cavity, two designed with parallel fins, two with cross
arrangement and one with honey comb inserts were tested at

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.07.114
0017-9310/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
252 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263
Nomenclature
Roman symbols
Symbol Quantity (Unit)
PCMs Phase change materials
SPTs Set point temperatures (°C)
T PCM Melting temperature of PCMs (°C)
T Al Melting temperature of aluminium (°C)
t Thickness of fin (mm)
h Height of fin (mm)
vf Volume of the fin (mm3)
Vf Total volume of fins
Nf Total number of fins
VS Total working volume of heat sink (mm3)
m Mass of the PCM (kg)
q Heat flux (kW/m2)
tk Latent heat phase duration (sec)
T Thermocouple inside the PCM
power level in the range from 3 to 5 W. The obtained results
showed that increasing number of fins, insertion of honey comb
and inclusion of low melting temperature PCM at higher power
level had enhanced significantly the operation time of heat sink.
Fins had significant role in improving thermal performance of heat
storage unit. Recent findings considered identifying optimum dis-
tribution of these TCE (fins) in terms of dimensions and shape. Saha
et al. [4] carried out their research to investigate the effective way
of distributing fins in heat sinks i.e. to find the optimum volume
fraction of TCE which maintains a low temperature of any compo-
nent. Using n-eicosane as PCM in aluminium made heat sinks. Two
types of fins (plate-fin and pin-fin) were analysed in heat sinks with
base dimension of 42  42 mm2 and fins height of 25 mm. The case
of 8% TCE volume fraction of heat sink or base plate was reported
to give best results. Regarding fin dimensions and shape it was
concluded that the large number of small cross-sectional area pin
fins performed better.
Baby and Balaji [5] experimentally investigated three different
geometries of heat sinks employing different no of TCE. All heat
sinks were made of aluminium employing 33, 72,120 number of
pin-fins of corresponding volume fractions were 4%, 9%, and 15%
respectively. The effectivity of volume fractions of TCE was exam-
ined at power level 4–8 w using n-eicosane with varying volume
fractions of 0.3, 0.6 and 1. For SPT of 43
C and 8 W power, the
highest enhancement factor of 21 was obtained for heat sink with
72 number of fins. Also, the performance was seen to be strongly
dependent on PCM volume fractions instead of TCE volume frac-
tions. The effect of orientation on thermal performance of porous
matrix filled heat sink was investigated by Srikanth et al. [6].
Tracking system was employed to change the orientation of copper
metal foam matrix embedded Al-heat sink filled with n-eicosane.
The experimental results obtained in terms of enhancement ratios
showed that the heat transfer enhancement was only comparable
and effect of orientation has no significant impact on the men-
tioned heat sink.
Experimental work performed by Fan et al. [7] determined the
effect of internal fins and melting temperatures on performance
of PCM based heat sinks under pulsating heat loads. Two organic
PCMs (n-eicosane and 1-hexadecanol) having different melting
temperature were tested in prototype heat sinks at different power
levels and it was concluded that the PCM with higher melting tem-
perature had resulted in improved thermal performance of elec-
tronic devises comparatively. Six heat sinks designs were tested
by Mahrous [8] to investigate the effect of fins arrangement and
fin number, on thermal performance. Identical plate finned heat
W Thermocouple at side wall of heat sink
H Thermocouple at base of heat sink
t cr Time to reach critical temperature (sec)
Greek symbols
wPCM Volumetric fraction of PCM
mPCM Volume of PCM (m3/kg)
qPCM Density of PCM (kg/m3)
qAl Density of aluminium (kg/m3)
ePCM Enhancement ratio at PCM
kPCM Latent heat of PCM (kJ/kg)
C PCM Heat capacity of PCM (kJ/kg)
C Al Heat capacity of aluminium (J/kg)
kPCM Thermal conductivity of PCM (W/m K)
kAl Thermal conductivity of aluminium (W/m K)
A Surface area ratio
sinks with four heat sinks of parallel fins arrangement, one with
crossed fins and one with no fins were tested. A constant fin thick-
ness of 1 mm and constant power level 4.84 W was used and it was
concluded that the parallel and crossed fins arrangement both had
nearly comparable performance but performance of all fins heat
sinks was superior to that without fins. Numerical study carried
out by Levin et al. [9] explored the effect of fin’s length, height
and number for the optimal PCM percentage to be considered in
designing latent heat thermal management system (LHTMS) for
electronic devices. From the results, it was concluded that the opti-
mal percentage of PCM is dependent on number and height of fins,
heat flux and the difference between liquidus and critical
temperature.
Thomas et al. [10] carried out numerical study for the design of
PCM based heat sink for average dimensions of a smart phone.
Analysis were performed using ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 by providing
constant heat flux to the base of heat sink with power input rang-
ing from 4 to 6 w. Eicosane was selected as PCM for designed heat
sink. High performance was obtained when PCM fraction had
reached to its maximum. Selection of thermal performance
enhancement method has a vital role in thermal management of
components. Nagose et al. [11] used combined genetic and conven-
tional simulation to get optimized configuration of heat sink which
kept the temperature of microprocessor in acceptable limits. The
designed heat sink consisted of fin array with depth equal to heat
sink and a heat spreader inside the heat sink. From the results
obtained with the assumption of constant heat flux from electronic
device correlations were proposed relating heat sink operational
time to the PCM fraction, heat sink depth and heat spreader thick-
ness. It was found that the optimal spreader thickness was 2.5% of
heat sink depth.
Hatakeyama et al. [12] conducted their experimental and ana-
lytical research on PCM based transient cooling module employing
pin fins. The setup used by them consisted of test module, heat
spreader, chamber, substrate, power source, Data logger, three heat
sinks with round fins of different number and diameter. The paraf-
fin volume fraction used, was 81% of total space. Thermal network
model of module was developed capable of predicting temperature
transients. This model was reported to be effective design tool for
thermal management of electronic devices. The research by Hassan
et al. [13] investigated and compared the performance of three dif-
ferent types of PCMs namely salt hydrate, paraffin wax and milk fat
in PCM based finned heat sink system. Experiments were con-
ducted on finned heat sink at power input ranging from 4 W to
10 W. The conjugate heat transfer model was developed for each
 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263
PCM system that had predicted the effect of thermal conductivity,
density, melting range of each PCM on heat sink performance.
From the results obtained milk fat PCM was reported to have lower
performance comparatively. Increased thermal conductivity and
density of PCMs had resulted in increased thermal performance
but was found to decrease for wider melting range. Fok et al.
[14] performed experimental study on the application of phase
change material (PCM) as coolant in portable hand-held electronic
devices at power levels ranging from 3 W to 5 W, for extensive or
light working conditions. The results summed up that TCE pin fins
with PCM was feasible option for cooling hand-held electronic
devices and enhanced the usage duration. But the success was
dependent upon factors like the number of fins, the amount of
PCM used, the power rating of the incoming heat concluding that
the higher heat flux lead to higher temperatures and shorter oper-
ating time, and affected the usage mode of the device. Lastly, suit-
able PCM for a device was also dependent on the ambient
temperature.
PCM based heat sinks are becoming more and more attractive in
thermal management of electronics in recent years. They can
absorb and release large amount of heat during their melting and
solidification process thus keeping the system at constant temper-
ature nearly minimizing the occurrence of overheating or other
damages. The present study aims at investigating and comparing
the effect of two basic types of fins arrangement, inline and stag-
gered on the thermal performance of PCM based heat sink. Addi-
tionally, the influence of two types of fin geometries, round and
square shape on the thermal performance of PCM based heat sinks.
Six different PCMs of wider range of melting temperature and
latent heat values are used to determine the most suitable material
relevant to the specific fins arrangement and geometry.
2. Experimental setup
2.1. Heaters and power supply
To carry out the experimental analysis, a real-time assembly
system is created to achieve efficient results. The archetypal heat
input is used to impersonate and act as an electronic device. The
schematic diagram and pictographic view of original setup are
shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively. This setup is designed to get
in conjunction with its theoretical structure. The mimicry of heat
generation in electronics is done using 50  50 mm2 OMEGAÒ sili-
con rubber heater (SRFG-202/10-P-220V).
A DC power supply module by Keysight TechnologiesÒ (6675A,
0–120V/0–18A) is used to provide the required power to the heater
with programming accuracy of voltage 0.04% + 120 mV and current
0.1% + 12 mA at reference temperature 25
C, which is attached to
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of experimental setup.
253
the base of heat sink. Table 1 shows power levels used in experi-
ment and their respective input heat fluxes of are achieved at the
contact surface of heater and heat sink. To control power, a manual
switch is also introduced for safety purposes.
2.2. Heat sinks configuration
In this study, circular pin fins of diameter 3 mm and square pin
fins of dimensions 2  2 mm2 are selected. The total number of fins
for circular and square cross sections are 42 and 72 respectively for
both in-line and staggered arrays. The heat sinks are designed with
overall dimensions of 71  70  25 mm3 with wall thickness of 7
mm around the boundary and 5 mm from base is also maintained.
An optimum 9% volume fraction of fins is used in this system, as
established by [15,16]. To calculate the number of fins, the follow-
ing equation is used:
 
VS
Nf ¼ 0:9 ð1Þ
vf
Aluminium (6061-T6) is used for heat sink manufacturing using
CNC machining. Its thermo-physical properties are shown in
Table 2. A sectioned view representation of PCM base heat sink
assembly is shown in Fig. 3 and dimensions of its components
are given in Table 3. The orthogonal projections of square inline
are shown in Fig. 4.1. The isometric view of the four pin fin heat
sinks under study are also shown in Fig. 4.2.
2.3. Types of PCMs under investigation
Several PCMs are analysed in this experiment. wPCM is kept con-
stant at 90% and is calculated using Eq. (2) which is the ratio of the
PCM volume to the difference of V S and V f :
 
mPCM
wPCM ¼ 0:9 ð2Þ
VS  Vf
A total of six PCMs are used to explore the effect of melting tem-
perature and corresponding latent heat capacities. The selection of
materials is carried out keeping in view the various power densi-
ties of electronic devices. Paraffin wax (Mersck, Germany) [17]
and n-eicosane [18] are used for comparison with other materials
and their relative effect on each shape is studied. Further four
materials from RUBITHERMÒ [19] are analysed. The RUBITHERMÒ
RT-54, RT44, RT-35HC, SP-31 are also brought under study due to
their distinctive thermal properties which are shown in Table 4.
2.4. Thermocouples positions
Temperature is the key parameter being measured in this study.
For this purpose, nine thermocouples by OMEGAÒ of highly cali-
brated ASTM standards [20] are used, within a temperature range
of 0–100 °C and found maximum discrepancy of 0:1
C. This ana-
logue data is converted to digital form by data acquisition system
(Agilent 34972A, (100 °C to 1200 °C). This is then connected to
laptop which attains the data through data acquisition software
at an interval of 5 s. The Thermocouple placement is shown in
Fig. 5. The designation H1 and H2 show position of thermocouples
at a length of 35 mm along the base, measuring heat sink base tem-
perature. The thermocouples from W1 to W4 show wall tempera-
ture or temperature at boundary wall. To visualize the phase
change profile of PCMs, the thermocouples T1 to T3 are protruded
at different heights from base. The thermocouples T1, T2 and T3
are placed at 10 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm respectively. To fix these
thermocouples, Araldite is used.
254 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263

Fig. 2. Pictorial view of experimental setup.

tioning that all experimental values demonstrated in terms of

Table 1 graphical trends for pin fin comparison are for base temperature
Power values with their subsequent heat fluxes.
values for both with and without PCM. This is so because this study
Power (W) 4 5 6 7 8 focuses on transfer of heat generated inside the ICs of electronics,
q ðkW=m2 Þ 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 which is gained and is maximum at the base of the heat sink. So,
lower temperature at base means more heat is being absorbed
by the PCM setup and this implies for its better heat transfer
Table 2 abilities.
Properties of aluminium.
In consideration of the experimental constraints, the results are
Property Value Unit sorted out and explained as following.
kAl 180 W/m k
qAl 2700 Kg/m 3.1. The pin-fin configuration comparison (without PCM)
C Al 963 J/kg K
T Al 660.4 °C
As mentioned earlier, this study is performed for a range of
power levels between 4 W and 8 W. For citation 5 W and 8 W are
considered. First set of readings were taken without any PCM.
The comparison between the square inline and staggered is shown
in Fig. 6a and b. Whereas that between circular configurations is
also shown adjacently in Fig. 6c and d. Temperature distribution
of circular and square pin-fins is likewise compared collectively
in Fig. 7.
As it can be seen from the trends of temperature distribution in
Fig. 6, staggered fin arrangement is found to be the better than its
counterpart in both circular and square profiles. The reason is that
the staggered configuration allows more disturbance due to devel-
opment of natural convection currents. These convection currents
develop due to the trapped air inside the heat sink. As a vacuum
is not created in this case, so air remains trapped. The results also
satisfy the numerical analysis performed by Yang et al. [21].
Results shown in Fig. 7 illustrate that square staggered pin-fin
Fig. 3. Sectioned view of PCM based Heat Sink Assembly. arrangement is a superior arrangement for heat transfer as com-
pared to circular (inline, staggered) and square inline. The explana-
tion for this sets with the established fact that square cross-section
Table 3
produces more turbulence of air due to its sharp edges, helping in
Material specifications used for making the assembly of heat sink.
heat dissipation. The trends of Fig. 7 comply with work of Muham-
Sr. Materials used Dimensions (mm) mad [22]. Furthermore, if we take the surface area ratio, using Eq.
no.
(3), of square (inline or staggered) to circular (inline or staggered)
1 Perspex sheet 71  70  5 pin-fins arrangements.
2 Silicon rubber gasket 71  70  3 (with a cut out of 57  56)
3 Rubber pad for heat sink 220  220  25 (with a cut out of Asquare
114  114) A ¼ ð3Þ
4 Rubber pad for heat sink 220  220  65
Acircular
bottom It is obtained A ¼ 1:46, which shows that the total surface area
of square configuration pin-fins arrangements is larger than the
surface area of circular configuration pin-fins arrangements, which
3. Results and discussions shows a significant reason of better outperforming of heat transfer
rate for square pin-fins (inline or staggered) arrangements than cir-
The purpose of this experiment is to single out the best opera- cular pin-fins (inline or staggered) arrangements in the cases of
tional circumstances for a heat sink to be effective. It is worth men- without PCMs.
M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263 255

Fig. 4.1. Orthogonal views of square inline Heat Sink under study.

(a). circular inline (b). circular staggered

(c). Square inline (d). Square staggered

Fig. 4.2. Isometric view of Heat Sinks under study.
256 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263
Table 4
Thermo-physical properties of PCMs.
Material kPCM (W=m K)
Paraffin wax 0.167(L)
0.212(S)
n-Eicosane 0.160(L)
0.40(S)
RT-54 0.2
RT-44 0.2
RT-35HC 0.2
SP-31 0.6
Fig. 5. Position of thermocouples across heat sink.
3.2. The Pin-fin configuration comparison (with PCM)
After completion of analysis on heat sinks without PCM, differ-
ent PCM are introduced in the four pin fin heat sinks both for inline
and staggered fins arrangement. Results are shown in Fig. 8a as a
comparison between inline and staggered pin fin configurations
of square geometry at 5 W. Similar comparison for circular cross-
section at 5 W is shown in Fig. 8b. Further, comparison between
inline and staggered pin fin configurations of square and circular
cross-sections is shown in Fig. 9a and b respectively. As it is evi-
dent from the Figs. 8 and 9, graphical trends suggest that inline
is a better array geometry to consider. This is seen to be true for
both square and circular pin-fin heat sinks. Here more temperature
gain means less heat transfer as less heat is being dissipated. The
reason why inline has less temperature gain is because it uniformly
distributes temperature in the PCMs. This allows maximum heat
transfer by PCM. Further, individual results for all six PCMs prove
this finding. Let’s consider results at 5 W for instance:
 It is evident that there is visible constant difference between
inline and staggered plots of square and circular cross section
for RT-44 and RT-54 in both Fig. 8 (a) and (b).
 For n-eicosane the temperature difference in both configuration
increases gradually in case of square whereas circular pin-fin
shows gradual increase in change of temperature followed by
abrupt increase between 50th and 90th mins.
 For RT-35HC in case of square, temperature difference is main-
tained in both array pattern until 45th minute where slope of
square staggered heat sink increases rapidly followed by similar
CPCM (kJ/kg K) kPCM (kJ/kg) TPCM (°C) qPCM (kg/m3)
2.8 173.6 56–58 790(L)
880(S)
2.2(L) 237.4 36.5 780(L)
1.9(S) 820(S)
2 200 54 800(L)
850(S)
2 250 44 700(L)
800(S)
3 240 35 770(L)
880(S)
2 210 31 1300(L)
1350(S)
behaviour of square inline at 60th minute. However, in case of
circular arrays, staggered has slower temperature gain, even
below its inline arrangement. The difference between inline
and staggered decreases and both plots overlap during time
span of 30th and 60th mins. Then the staggered plot starts
increasing.
 For paraffin wax square staggered is initially below the inline
array pattern but turns to show a greater temperature gain after
60th minute. Circular pin-fin configuration also shows less tem-
perature gain in case of its inline formation.
 Graphical trend for SP-31 show no visible difference in inline
and staggered for both square and circular shapes. However,
more temperature gain can be noticed for staggered tempera-
ture profiles at the end.
For a power level 8 W, Fig. 9a and b show the results for both
square and circular geometries. Generally, the trend followed by
PCM heat sinks under this power value depict the same result as
that at 5 W i.e. inline is the better arrangement in case of both
square and circular cross sections. The results are explained as fol-
lows for square geometry:
 RT-44 and n-eicosane show a fluctuating difference in their
square inline and staggered trend lines but the dominance of
square inline is apparent.
 Paraffin Wax and SP-31 allow a gradual increase till 45th min-
ute where it follows a constant trend.
 RT-35HC shows staggered array losing more heat from base
until 40th minute where its heat transfer is overcome by its
inline counterpart.
 The temperature distribution of RT-54 for square staggered is
slightly better till 45th minute, after which it attains similar
trend with inline up to 70th minute, from where sensible heat-
ing is seen to occur.
Similarly, the plots for circular configurations illustrate the
following:
 RT-44 and paraffin wax show visible constant difference in the
respective inline and staggered pin-fin formations used in this
experiment after 15th minute where inline is again dominant.
 N-eicosane has no significant change in its trends as both curves
overlap each other.
 SP-31 shows very minor change until 55th minute from where
variation increases and then follows a constant difference
between two temperature plots establishing inline pin-fin array
again in leading position.
 RT-35HC has fluctuating temperature distribution along the
span of 90 min. Still inline is better than the staggered pin fin
arrangement.
 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263 257

a. Square inline vs staggered at 5W b. Square inline vs staggered at 8W

c. Circular inline vs staggered at 5W d. Circular inline vs staggered at 8W

Fig. 6. The temperature distribution on different configurations at 5 W and 8 W.

Fig. 7. Circular (inline, staggered) vs square (inline, staggered).

258 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263

a: square Inline vs staggered

b: Round Inline vs staggered

Fig. 8. Inter comparison between inline and staggered PCM materials at 5 W.

From above results it is known that inline fin arrangement is a
better choice in both circular and square pin-fins heat sinks. To
establish better of the two, a comparison for square inline and
circular inline is illustrated in Fig. 10(a) and (b). It is clearly
shown that circular inline heat sink is better for all PCMs with
exception of n-eicosane. For n-eicosane square inline directs as
more effective choice until at the end where circular inline takes
over. Moreover, at 8 W n-eicosane and paraffin wax also deviate
from the behaviour shown by all other PCMs. Conclusively, circu-
lar inline pin-fins arrangement surpasses the square inline pin-fins
for all PCMs.
It is evident that circular inline pin-fins are better because they
enhance heat transfer effectively. Visualizing heat flowing in the
centre of the fin, for a circular fin when heat flows from the base
to the tip, at every part it can take whether a half diameter or half
edge as a route out of the fin. Since half edge is shorter, it prefers it.
This means that at every point across the radius of a circular fin
edge, temperature is evenly distributed. The reason of better per-
formance of heat transfer rate in case of circular pin-fins in compar-
ison of square pin-fins is because of optimum fin distribution and
arrangement as well the number of fins. Despite of this, total sur-
face area of pin-fins is not a limiting factor, in case of square pin-
fins, to increase or decrease the heat transfer rate, however, higher
the number of fins even with optimum fins distribution and
arrangement cause the rapid increase of heat transfer rate through
the PCMs which resulting the increases the phase transition rate of
PCMs [21,22]. To sum up, uniform temperature distribution at
every segment of the circular fin leads to better heat transfer.
3.3. Comparison of different PCMs
As circular inline is established in this study as the dominant
and most effective arrangement for a PCM based heat sink, so it’s
experimental reading will be considered in this section to study
PCM behaviour relative to their properties and effect on overall
performance of heat sink.
 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263 259

a: square Inline vs staggered

b: Round Inline vs staggered

Fig. 9. Inter comparison between inline and staggered PCM materials at 8 W.

3.3.1. Effect of melting temperature and latent heat of PCM
Melting temperature is one of the key aspects considered when
choosing a PCM as a heat storage medium for passive cooling.
Melting temperature affects the spectrum of PCM application
ranges and the performance of the heat sinks integrated along with
PCM. This experimentation focuses on PCM’s with a wide range of
melting temperature from 31
C to 57
C. All PCM melting temper-
atures and corresponding latent heats are listed in Table 3. Consid-
ering circular inline, the effects of melting temperature are studied
at 5 W and 8 W as it provides enough heat flux to melt all PCMs.
As it is evident in Fig. 11, the point where all PCMs trends
become less steep is the melting point of that PCM. These points
are shown with a black encircled point. The changes in curve can
also be observed at these points. But how does the melting point
affect the system’s performance? The answer to this lies in the fact
that it depends upon the heat flux generated in the system. For a
higher heat flux the corresponding temperature at base is also
high. So, the PCM which is initially in the solid phase, absorbs heat
with rise in base temperature. The temperature of thermocouple
placed at H1 and H2 will reflect the external temperature until
the PCM reaches its melting point. After the temperature ranges
the melting point of the PCM, it starts to change phase and thus liq-
uefies. As this liquefaction process occurs, the PCM absorbs in
bulks of heat with almost no temperature variation. During this
span, cooling effect is centred through the PCM. That span or
amount of time the PCM usually provides a cooling effect is known
as the latent heat of fusion. The enthalpy varies depending on the
PCM material itself. In case of this experiment, the enthalpy is clas-
sically measured in kJ/kg. For higher number of kilo Joules per kilo-
gram, the PCM will provide a cooling effect will be for a longer
time. The PCM, which is now in molten phase, it releases the
absorbed heat. The cycle reverses as soon as the base temperature
260 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263

a: At 5W

b: At 8 W
Fig. 10. Square inline and Circular Inline comparison.

cools. The PCM, now liquefied, releases the heat absorbed as the
base temperature decreases. During this period, the PCM solidifies
and generates a heating effect.
Fig. 11a and b illustrate the PCMs with lower melting tempera-
tures work best with lower power levels like 5 W and similarly
PCM’s with higher melting points are considered for 8 W.
 Paraffin wax doesn’t reach its melting point in both 5 W and
8 W systems. Additionally, its latent heat is the lowest among
the six PCMs.
 RT-54 like paraffin wax does not reach its melting point at 5 W
but it does melt on the 35th minute at 8 W. Its latent heat is also
low compared to other PCM’s used.
 RT-44 has highest latent heat amongst all. At 5 W, it provides a
constant behaviour for most of its time and transfers heat with-
out even melting. But Fig. 11(b) shows that after surpassing its
melting point at 20th minute, it starts to gain sensible heat by
the 60th minute. So, its gradient becomes steeper.
 RT-35HC shows good heat transfer properties at 5 W tempera-
ture plots in Fig. 11(a), but changes this behaviour at 8 W.
 N-eicosane melts around the 35th minute but also advances to
sensible heating by 80th minute. At 8 W, it shows similar char-
acter as that of RT-35HC i.e. moves towards sensible heating
with sharp gradient. Both n-eicosane and RT-35HC have approx-
imately similar melting temperatures and latent heats.
 SP-31 shows most heat absorption/dissipation in Fig. 11a and b.
It has the lowest melting point among its all PCMs studied but
also has lower latent heat than RT-44, n-eicosane and RT-35HC.
The property allowing it the most heat absorption is its density
which is 1300 kg=m3 in liquid phase, almost double the amount
 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263 261

Fig. 11. PCMs comparison of Round Inline at 8 W.

of all other PCMs. It is so because a lot of energy is required to
overcome the strong bonds in the PCM. But it would also
require a similar time span to cool the material as it was taken
whilst heat absorption. So, based on its density its discharging
time can be predicted as high as its charging phase.
Although sensible heat is not studied in this experiment but the
comparison of sensible heat and latent heat storage systems
involving PCMs suggest that the latter has higher thermal energy
storage density and so requires reduced material amounts in terms
of masses and volumes. The sensible heat phase can be observed
above the melting points in Fig. 11.
3.3.2. The effect of varying power level and enhancement in operation
time
In this section the enhancement in operation time is studied
with respect to varying power levels, identifying the best PCM to
use at a certain power level. This is depicted in terms of the time
required to reach critical SPTs of 45
C and 60
C, and is shown in
Fig. 12a and b. Here PCMs are divided into two groups, one with
those having lower melting temperatures whilst second with rela-
tively higher melting temperatures. The first group consists of SP-
31, n-eicosane and RT-35HC and the second one has paraffin wax,
RT-54 and RT-44. They are divided with respect to critical SPT.
The critical SPT is defined as the maximum working temperature
that an electronic device withstands without halt.
From Fig. 12, it is apparent that for all PCMs the operation time
decreases whilst the power input increases. It’s obvious that:
 SP-31 takes the most time to reach the critical SPT of 45 °C in
rest of all other PCMs.
 n-eicosane and RT-35HC stand at close competition at all power
levels but the latter ensures more heat transfer, showing much
higher difference in enhancement time by 52 min at 5 W as
shown in Fig. 12a.
 RT-44 dominates at SPT of 60 °C at 5 W but its operation time
decreases rendering it least suitable for 7 W and 8 W.
 RT-54 has least operational time qualification for 5 W and 6 W
but it proves to be more useful at higher power levels.

Fig. 12. Time to reach critical SPT at different Power levels for various PCMs.
262 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263
Fig. 13. Enhancement ratio of different PCMs.
 Paraffin wax shows consistency in its enhancement in opera-
tional time throughout all the power levels.
3.3.3. Enhancement ratio
Fig. 13a and b present the enhancement ratio at two critical
SPTs of 45
C and 60
C. For SPT of 45
C, PCMs of low melting point
namely SP-31, RT-35HC and n-eicosane are considered, whereas for
the SPT of 60
C, PCMs of high melting point like RT-54, RT-44 and
paraffin wax are compared. The enhancement ratio, ePCM , is the SPT
time ratio of heat sink with PCM to that of the same heat sink without
PCM, calculated using Eq. (4).
tcrwith PCM
ePCM ¼
tcrwithout PCM
Here it becomes obvious that Sp-31 has the highest enhance-
ment ratio for SPT of 45 °C. The enhancement ratio of RT-35HC is
above n-eicosane at a power level of 5 W, but tends to become sim-
ilar at 6 W and 7 W. At 8 W n-eicosane has a slightly better
enhancement ratio than RT-35HC. For critical SPT of 60 °C paraffin
wax stands apart as best option whilst RT-44 is better for low
power levels and RT-54 for higher power levels.
So, this makes it obvious that higher enhancement ratios are
achieved on lower SPT of 45
C due to the higher time taken by
PCM to complete its latent heat phase. This decline in the enhance-
ment ratio at SPT of 60 °C as compared to SPT of 45 °C is caused by
the abrupt rise in temperature after completion of the melting
phase.
4. Conclusions
Successful experimental study is conducted to single out an effi-
cient working setup by passive cooling using PCM based heat sinks.
Circular and square pin-fins are used for experimentation, with
configurations varying between inline and staggered arrays. Power
levels of 4 W to 8 W were switched keeping the volumetric fraction
of PCM constant at 90%. Six PCMs were broadly studied for each
configuration of heat sinks. From all these set variations and condi-
tions, following deductions are made:
1. The pin-fin geometry and configuration comparison without
PCM yielded staggered is the better arrangement in both square
and circular cross-sections. Overall the square staggered pin-fin
array is found to be the most effective heat sink of all four
geometries without PCMs.
2. The second discussion was the pin-fin configuration comparison
with PCMs. The studies of six PCMs, two geometries and varying
power levels shows a unanimous result of inline as the domi-
nant configuration for both square and circular cross-sections.
3. Further comparison between circular inline and square inline
helped in establishing circular inline as the most efficient choice
for a PCM based heat sink.
4. Using circular inline as dominant geometry, the effect of melt-
ing point and latent heat was studied. Latent heat is found as
the major reason of more efficiency of PCMs heat transfer prop-
ð4Þ erties. RT-44, n-eicosane, SP-31 are dominant coolants at lower
power levels whilst RT-54 was best option at higher power
levels due to its mid-range thermal properties.
5. The effect of varying power level and enhancement in operation
time is also studied in terms of critical SPTs of 45 °C and 60 °C.
The results suggested that SP-31 requires the most time to
reach the critical SPT of 45 °C whilst paraffin wax is consistently
better choice for SPT of 60 °C due to its high melting point.
6. Finally, the enhancement ratio is considered as it becomes obvi-
ous that SP-31 has the highest enhancement ratio of 9.28 at 5 W
followed by RT-35HC and n-eicosane.
7. For 8 W power level systems paraffin wax is the best PCM with
highest enhancement ratio.
Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interests regarding this paper.
References
[1] S.F. Husseinizadeh, F.L. Tan, S.M. Moosania, Experimental and Numerical
studies on performance of phase change material based Heat sinks with
different configurations of internal fins, Appl. Thr. Engg. 31 (2011) 3827–3838.
[2] R. Pakrouh, M.J. Hosseini, A.A. Ranjbar, R. Bahrampoury, A numerical method
for phase change material based Heat sinks optimization, Energy Conv. Manag.
130 (2015) 542–552.
[3] Saad Mahmoud, Aarun Tang, Chin Toh, Raya AL-Dadah, SeinLeung Soo,
Experimental investigation of inserts configurations and Pcm Type on the
thermal performance of Phase change material based Heat sinks, Appl. Energy
112 (2013) 1349–1356.
 M.J. Ashraf et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2017) 251–263
[4] S.K. Saha, K. Srinivasan, P. Dutta, Studies on optimum distribution of fins in
heat sinks filled with phase change materials, J. Heat Transf. 130 (2008),
034505-1.
[5] R. Baby, C. Balaji, Thermal management of electronics using Phase Change
material based pin fin Heat Sinks, 6th European Thr. Sciences Conference, J.
Phys., IOP Publishing, 2012.
[6] R. Sarikanth, Pavan Nemani, C. Balaji, Multi-objective geometric optimization
of a Pcm Matrix Type Heat Sink, Appl. Energy 156 (2015) 703–714.
[7] Li-Wu Fan, Yu-Qi Xiao, Yi Zeng, Xin Fang, Xiao Wang, Xu Xu, Zi-Tao Yu, Rong-
Hua Hong, Ya-Cai Hu, Ke-Fa Cen, Effect of melting temperature and the
presence of internal fins on the performance of Pcm Based Heat sink, Int. J. Thr.
Sci. 70 (2013) 114–126.
[8] A.F. Mahrous, Thermal performance of phase change material based heat sinks,
Int. J. Mech. Energy 2 (2013) 35–42.
[9] Peleg P. Levin, Avraham Shitzar, Gad Hetsroni, Numerical optimization of
phase change material based heat sink with internal fins, Int. J. Heat Mass
Transf. 61 (2013) 638–645.
[10] Jesto Thomas, P.V.S.S. Srivatsa, S. Ramesh Krishnan, Rajesh Baby, 2010,
Thermal performance evaluation of phase change material based heat sink a
numerical study, Global colloquium in recent advancement and researches in
engineering, Science and Technology 2016, Elsevier Ltd, Procedia Technology
25 (2016) 1182–1190.
[11] Atul Nagose, Ankit Somani, Aviral Shrot, Arunn Narasimhan, Genetic
Algorithm based optimization of Pcm based heat sinks and effect of Heat
sink parameters on operational time, J. Heat Transf. 130 (2008), 011401-1.
[12] Tomoyuki Hatakeyama, Masaru Ishizuka, Sadakazu Takakuwa, Shinji
Nakagawa, Kanjii Takagi, Experimental and thermal network study on the
performance of a pins studded Pcm in electronic device cooling, J. Thr. Sci.
Tech. 6 (2011) 11–0030.
263
[13] Ahmad Hassan, Hassan Hejase, Shaimaa Abdelbaqi, Ali Assi, Mohammed O.
Hamdan, Comparative effectiveness of different phase change materials to
improve cooling performance of Heat sinks for electronic devices, Appl. Sci. 6
(2016) 226.
[14] S.C. Fok, W. Shen, F.L. Tan, Cooling of portable hand-held electronic devices
using phase change materials in finned heat sinks, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 49 (1)
(2010) 109–117.
[15] R. Baby, C. Balaji, Thermal optimization of PCM based pin fin heat sinks an
experimental study, Appl. Therm. Eng. 54 (1) (2013) 65–77.
[16] A. Arshad et al., Thermal performance of phase change material (PCM) based
pin-finned heat sinks for electronics devices effect of pin thickness and PCM
volume fraction, Appl. Therm. Eng. 112 (2017) 143–155.
[17] EMD Millipore is a part of Merck KGaA, D., Germany, 2016, Available from
http://www.emdmillipore.com/US/en/product/Histosec-pastilles,MDA_
CHEM-111609.
[18] ‘‘Eicosane 442673.” Sigma-Aldrich Italy. N.p., n.d. Web. 04. 2016, Available
from http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/219274/.
[19] ‘‘Rubitherm GmbH.” Rubitherm GmbH, Gemany. N.p., n.d. Web. 2016,
Available from https://www.rubitherm.eu/.
[20] G.W. Burns et al., Temperature-electromotive force reference functions and
tables for the letter-designated thermocouple types based on the ITS-90. NASA
STI/Recon Technical Report N, 1993, p. 93.
[21] Yue-Tzu Yang et al., Numerical simulations of electronic cooling with in-line
and staggered pin fin heat sinks, IJMME 10 (2016) 1172-1177.
[22] Eaman Hassan Muhammad, A comparison of the heat transfer performance of
a hexagonal pin fin with other types of pin fin heat sinks, Int. J. Sci. Res. 4
(2015) 1781–1789.