Beeswax and Palmitic Acid Utilization with Heat Pipes for Electronics Cooling

Abstract

This article presents an experimental study of heat pipes supported by phase‐change materials (PCMs) coated at their adiabatic sections in application for electronics cooling. The PCMs investigated in this research are palmitic acid and beeswax, the latter being considered as a more cost‐effective alternative. The study focuses on three powers: 20, 25, and 30 W. The experimental results reveal that the incorporation of palmitic acid as a PCM leads to a reduction in component's maximum temperature by 13.3%, 12.6%, and 11.8% for the respective powers. Utilization of beeswax results in temperature reductions of 5%, 5.2%, and 8.4%. Notably, for higher heat flux conditions, the influence of beeswax on temperature control is comparable to that of palmitic acid. Furthermore, beeswax demonstrates a significantly higher capability to mitigate temperature decrease during cooldown, serving as a superior measure against overcooling. Moreover, during the thermal cycling scenario considered in this study, beeswax reduces the peak‐valley temperature by 25%, while palmitic acid achieves a reduction of 14.6%. These findings suggest that beeswax has the potential to serve as an alternative to traditional organic PCMs in electronics cooling applications that utilize heat pipes.