Application of a Thermal Network Method to Thermal Analysis of Electronic Devices Using Phase Change Materials

Abstract

This paper describes transient cooling technology for electronic equipment using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and a heat sink with pin fins. We designed an electronic module including paraffin as the PCM and measured its transient temperature rise. The effects of the diameter of pin fins and heat dissipation values were investigated as design parameters. The results show that the temperature rise values were controlled by the thermal absorption effect due to the latent heat of the PCM. It is also confirmed that the proposed thermal network method with an equivalent specific heat model has strong potential for use in the analysis of electronic modules using PCMs.

Application of Thermal Network Model to Transient Thermal Analysis of Power Electronic Package Substrate

“…The thermal network model facilitates the design parameter survey for choosing a set of optimum parameters without resorting to time-consuming CFD analysis. Ishizuka et al have proposed some simplified models such as heat diffusion model in [12], thermal convection model in [13], phase changing process model in [14,15], and 3D model in [15] to simulate various thermal behaviors in electronic devices. From those results, it is found that if we would understand the heat phenomenon in a system, some temperature values for the system could be predictable by using a simplified model for a thermal network method.…”