Numerical investigation of phase change thermal control unit for portable electronic devices

The thermal control unit(TCU) using phase change material(PCM) can well perform thermal control for portable electronic devices, and avoid it over heating. Two-dimensional mathematical model of TCU was presented, and numerical simulation was conducted to analyze its thermal performance. The results show that adding fins and filling with foam-PCM composite material can significantly improve thermal performance of TCU and satisfy the need of electronics working condition. Further, effectiveness of TCU by the two kinds of design was compared, and the design of filling with foam-PCM was superior to another one. The conclusion provides guidelines for portable electronic devices TCU design and optimization.