Selection of phase-change material for thermal management of electronic devices using multi-attribute decision-making technique

Abstract

Selection of proper phase-change material (PCM) plays a crucial role in the development of latent heat thermal management module. Very often, selection of improper material leads to early failure of the product which results in huge economic loss. Most of the researchers utilize PCM in a particular application based on their experience and availability. The designer needs to consider all possible alternatives and evaluate in terms of various conflicting criteria or attributes. The optimal selection of PCM for a particular application is a multi-attribute decision-making problem. Here, two evaluation techniques such as technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and fuzzy TOPSIS are employed to select the optimal PCM for thermal management of electronic components. The analytical hierarchy process technique is utilized to determine the weight of the attributes. The present study considers 30 PCMs and 11 attributes for the selection of best PCM. The results are compared with both the methods and it is observed that RT 44 HC is found to be optimal PCM for thermal management of electronic components. The model is validated and results are found to be in good agreement with the existing experimental results. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd