Novel Through-Fin Salt-Hydrate PCM Heat Sink for Fanless Raspberry Pi 5: Breaking Thermal Conductivity Limits Through Advanced Latent Heat Storage
Abstract
This study introduces a novel through-fin salt-hydrate phase-change material (PCM) heat sink for passive thermal management of the Raspberry Pi 5. Unlike conventional heat sinks, the proposed architecture integrates latent thermal energy storage with natural convection and radiation, enabling efficient heat absorption during demanding computational workloads. Three-dimensional numerical simulations predict a 107% increase in throttle-free operating time at 25°C and a 2.6-fold improvement at 35°C. The study reveals a new thermal design principle in which latent heat storage capacity becomes more influential than PCM thermal conductivity when heat-transfer pathways are sufficiently short. These findings offer a promising approach to improving the thermal reliability, operational performance, and energy efficiency of fanless electronics, embedded systems, and edge-computing devices.
