Phase change materials for thermal management and energy storage: A review

Abstract

This paper presents a general review of significant recent studies that utilize phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal management purposes of electronics and energy storage. It introduces the causes of electronic devises failure and which methods to control their fails. Moreover, this paper gives an overview of PCMs types and their characteristics and applications. It focuses on the thermal energy storage applications i.e., the use of PCMs in heat sinks to control their thermal efficiency. Also, the methods of enhancing the thermal conductivity of PCM are presented including the addition of nanoparticles to the PCMs or metallic fins manufactured for the heat sink. Furthermore, there is a systemic discussion of the effect of various parameters affecting the performance of the HSs with TCE-PCM. The focus of the discussion is based on lowering the base temperature of the heat sink. All factors affected the thermal response of the HS is deeply illustrated including HS's orientation, fins geometry and shape, power levels, PCM volume fractions, and nanoparticles concentrations.