Improvement of Heat Conduction in Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Heat Sinks Filled with Phase Change Materials

Recently phase change materials (PCMs) have received significant attention in the field of thermal management and energy storage systems. However, the thermal performance of PCMs is restricted by their low thermal conductivity. Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) is a novel surface with high strength, high specific surface area, and high connectivity, which can be applied in PCM heat sinks to enhance the local heat transfer rate. In this study, a topology optimization method for TPMS structures applied in PCM heat sinks with the objective of least dissipation of heat transport potential capacity is proposed. The optimized structure has a higher volume fraction of metal material near the heating surface while lower in the region away from the heating surface. Furthermore, the optimized structure accelerates the advancement of the melting interface. With a constant heat flux on the heating surface, the average temperature of the heating surface can be reduced by about 30 K compared to the uniform TPMS structure.