Electronics Cooling Using Phase Change Materials: An Experimental Study

This study investigates the effectiveness of utilizing Phase Change Material (PCM) for cooling electronic devices, particularly a phone charger. A series of experiments were conducted in a laboratory environment to compare conventional air-cooled methods with PCM-cooled methods. Temperature histories of the environment, the box containing the electronics, and the surface of the charger using a LabQuest 2 data logger were recorded for electronics cooling, both with and without PCM under the same environmental conditions. To determine the significance of temperature differences between air-cooled and PCM-cooled electronics, the recorded data were statistically analyzed using a t-test. It was observed that PCM-cooled setups achieved significantly lower average temperatures compared to traditional air-cooled electronics. Particularly, immersing the charger in RT27 PCM led to a temperature reduction of 3.5 ℃, which is significantly lower compared to the conventionally air-cooled electronics. These findings highlight the potential of PCM for enhancing electronics cooling efficiency and suggest further exploration regarding the integration of PCM into electronics.