Performance enhancement of PCM-based heat sinks with plate heat-pipe fins and metal foam networks

The low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) severely limits the performance of PCM-based heat sinks under high heat flux conditions. To address this, this study introduces a novel hybrid enhancement strategy that couples high-conductivity plate heat-pipe fins with copper foam, thereby creating synergistic vertical and multidirectional heat transfer pathways. An experimental platform with visualization was established to evaluate three heat sink configurations, aluminum (Al) alloy fins, heat-pipe fins, and heat-pipe fins with copper foam, under heat fluxes ranging from 4.2 to 7.0 kW/m 2 . Results show that the integration of heat-pipe fins and copper foam reduces the maximum internal temperature difference by 25% compared with Al alloy fins, and prolongs the time to reach the set point temperature ( SPT ) by 1.25 times during the pre-sensible heating stage and by 2.2 times during the melting stage. These findings demonstrate that the combined design not only enhances thermal conductivity but also promotes uniform phase transition, offering an effective solution to improving thermal management strategy for aerospace electronics, data center cooling, and electric vehicle battery systems.