A novel synthetic jet based heat sink with PCM filled cylindrical fins for efficient electronic cooling

The current electronic industries strive to build an effective cooling solution for modern compact electronic gadgets. The current experimental study, thus, focused on assessing the performance of a heat sink that combines the benefit of active and passive cooling utilizing the synthetic jet and Phase change material (PCM), respectively. The PCM offers a high latent heat value, whereas the synthetic jet induces vortices-based turbulent flow. The cooling characteristics of the heat sink filled with PCM and without PCM are evaluated when subjected to three different operating conditions, which are (i) natural convection, (ii) forced convection using DC fan, and (iii) forced convection using a synthetic jet. The PCM selected for the current study are Eicosane and 1-hexadecanol. It is observed that the inclusion of PCM into the heat sink improved its performance. The multiple-orifice synthetic jet outperformed the single-orifice synthetic jet. The steady-state base temperature attained by multiple orifice synthetic jet is 5 degrees C lower than that of the synthetic jet with a single orifice. The heat sink cooling performance is best when it is operated at its optimum height measured from the heat sink tip. Heat sink filled with Eicosane subjected to synthetic jet with multiple orifice showed best results, the thermal resistance, heat transfer coefficient and COP is found to be 0.91 K/W, 420.4 W/m2, and 2.1, respectively. The synthetic jet with multiple orifices performed better than the DC (Direct Current) fan operated at the same electrical power input of 0.5 W.