The performance of liquid heat sinks with phase change material suspensions

Abstract Results of an experimental study to investigate the performance of liquid heat sinks with microencapsulated phase change material suspensions are presented. The volumetric concentrations of microcapsules in the suspension was varied from 0% to 28%. For the case of heating from below, the use of phase change material suspensions was found to be detrimental to the overall heat transfer because of a reduced convection due to the presence of microcapsules. In contrast, the performance of the liquid heat sink is improved when heating is from above.