Investigation of a multiple piezoelectric–magnetic fan system embedded in a heat sink

Previous studies have investigated the thermal performance of embedding a single piezoelectric fan in a heat sink. Based on this work, a multiple piezoelectric–magnetic fan system (“MPMF”) has been successfully developed that exhibits lower fan power consumption, optimum fan pitch and an optimum fan gap between the fan tips and the heat sink. In this study, the cooling performance and heat convection improvement for the MPMF system embedded in a heat sink are evaluated at different fan tip locations. The results indicate that the fan tip location of the MPMF system at x/S_l = 0.5 and y/S_h = 0 is an optimum configuration, improving the thermal resistance by 53.2% over natural convection condition for the fan input power of 0.1 W. The MPMF system breaks the thermal boundary layer and causes fluctuations inside the fins of the heat sink to enhance the overall heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, the relationship between the convection improvement and the Reynolds number for the MPMF system has been investigated and transformed into a correlation line for nine different fan tip locations to provide a means of predicting the cooling performance for the MPMF system embedded in a heat sink.     

Numerical and experimental investigations on effect of fan height on the performance of piezoelectric fan in microelectronic cooling

A piezoelectric fan is an attractive device to remove heat from microelectronic systems due to its low power consumption, minimal noise and compactness. In the present study, a piezoelectric fan is investigated to analyze the cooling capability for possible use in electronic devices. Both numerical and experimental analyses are carried out on the piezoelectric fan which was oriented horizontally. The FLUENT 6.3 software is used in the 2D simulation to predict the heat transfer coefficient and the flow fields using a dynamic mesh option to observe the fan swinging phenomena. Two heat sources in in-line arrangement are used in the experiment. The flow measurements are carried out at different piezoelectric fan heights by using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. The result shows that the piezofan height of h_p/l_p = 0.23 can reduce the temperature of the heat source surface as much as 68.9 °C. The numerical and experimental values of heat transfer coefficients are plotted and found in good agreement.     

Thermal performance of a dual-sided multiple fans system with a piezoelectric actuator on LEDs

With the advantages of lower power consumption and longer lifetime, piezoelectric fans have been widely investigated for use in electronic cooling for many years. However, the application of the piezoelectric fans for LEDs is seldom explored because of its insufficient cooling ability. In this study, a dual-sided multiple fans system with a piezoelectric actuator (“D-MFPA”) is considered for use in the thermal management of LEDs. The obvious advantage is that the D-MFPA only uses one piezoelectric fan to drive eight passive magnetic fans vibrating simultaneously to provide sufficient cooling ability and two-directional air flows. Two 30-W chip-on-board (COB) LED models are adopted to investigate the thermal performance of the D-MFPA. The dimensionless heat convection number for the D-MFPA (M_D ‐ MFPA) is defined in this study to describe and quantify the thermal performance of the D-MFPA. Moreover, several horizontal orientations (x/S_l) and vertical orientations (y/S_h) are examined to investigate the effects of different arrangements. The results indicate that M_D ‐ MFPA can be improved to 3.92 under the case of x/S_l = 0 and y/S_h = 0.033; however, the single piezoelectric fan can only improve M_D ‐ MFPA to 2.82.     

Development of a radial-flow multiple magnetically coupled fan system with one piezoelectric actuator

In recent years, piezoelectric fans and their feasibility for use in cooling electronic devices have been widely studied. However, there are few studies that address using a single piezoelectric actuator to generate radial air flow. In this study, a radial-flow multiple fan system (RMFS) was developed for the thermal management of high power LEDs. This system only used one piezoelectric actuator and a magnetic repulsive force to activate up to 20 fans, which featured low power consumption and a large cooling area. The RMFS was mounted in a circular heat sink to evaluate its thermal performance. To find the optimal design for the RMFS, the influence of some geometric parameters was investigated. The performance of different designs was compared with a commercially available axial fan. The results showed that design E had the best thermal performance among the designs because of its relatively large frequency and amplitude. The thermal resistance and percentage improvement under a 35 W heat flux were 0.86 K/W and 36.9%, respectively. In addition, a coefficient of performance (COP) was defined. The COP of design E was approximately 3.7 times that of the rotary fan. For the power consumption aspect, the RMFS is more efficient than the rotary fan.     

Measurement and prediction of the cooling characteristics of a generalized vibrating piezoelectric fan

Piezoelectric fans are thin elastic beams whose vibratory motion is actuated by means of a piezoelectric material bonded to the beam. These fans have found use as a means to enhance convective heat transfer while requiring only small amounts of power. The objective of the present work is to quantify the influence of each operational parameter and its relative impact on thermal performance. Of particular interest are the vibration frequency and amplitude as well as the geometry of the vibrating cantilever beam. The experimental setup consists of a piezoelectric fan mounted normal to a constant heat flux surface. Temperature contours on this surface captured via an infrared camera are used to extract the forced convection coefficient due to the fluid motion generated from the fan. Different fans, with fundamental resonance frequencies ranging from 60 to 250 Hz, are considered. Results show that the performance of the fans is maximized at a particular value of the gap between the fan tip and the heated surface. It is found that when a fan operates at this optimum gap, the heat transfer rate is dependent only on the frequency and amplitude of oscillation. Correlations based on appropriately defined dimensionless parameters are developed and found to successfully predict the thermal performance across the entire range of fan dimensions, vibration frequency and amplitude. An understanding of the dependence of thermal performance on the governing variables allows for improved design of piezoelectric fans as a method of enhancing heat transfer.     

A method of rib-bed plate enhancing heat transfer in hydrogen rocket engine chamber wall

The hydrogen fuel rocket engine combustion chamber wall is very small and suffers high combustion temperature and heat rates. To effectively reduce the temperature of these overheated structures and improve the cooling performance for the entire channel, different from traditional smooth channel, the rib-bed plate structure is established. The several rib structures are investigated to find optimum height and spacing. The results indicate that the optimum cooling structure with rib-bed plate on the internal wall improves cooling performance. Comparied with the smooth channel, the rib enhances convection heat transfer coefficient and reduces the heat wall maximum temperature. The comprehensive comparisons of cooling performance for different rib structures indicate that the cross-distribution structure with a height 0.2 mm and spacing 2.5 mm is better to improve the cooling performance in a 2 mm*2 mm cross-section channel. Finally, the maximum heat wall temperature is decreased by 14.7%, (Nu/Nu_nofins)/(f/f_nofins)^1/3 is increased by a maximum over 25% than traditional smooth channel and cooling capacity is increased to 34.8%.     

Experimental investigation of optimum thermohydraulic performance of solar air heaters with metal rib grits roughness

Artificial roughness has been found to enhance the heat transfer from the collector plate to the air in a solar air heater. However, it would result in increase in frictional losses and hence, power required by fan or blower. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of thermohydraulic performance of roughened solar air heaters with metal rib grits. The range of variation of system and operating parameters is investigated within the limits of, e/D_h: 0.035-0.044, p/e: 15-17.5 and l/s as 1.72, against variation of Reynolds number, Re: 3600-17000. The study shows substantial enhancement in thermal efficiency (10-35%), over solar air heater with smooth collector plate. The thermal efficiency enhancement is also accompanied by a considerable increase in the pumping power requirement due to the increase in the friction factor (80-250%). The optimum design and operating conditions have been determined on the basis of thermohydraulic considerations. It has been found that, the systems operating in a specified range of Reynolds number show better thermohydraulic performance depending upon the insolation. A relationship between the system and operating parameters that combine to yield optimum performance has been developed.     

An efficient solar-powered adsorption chiller and its application in low-temperature grain storage

A novel solar-powered adsorption cooling system for low-temperature grain storage has been built, which consists of a solar-powered water heating system, a silica gel–water adsorption chiller, a cooling tower and a fan coil unit. The adsorption chiller is composed of two identical adsorption units, each of them containing an adsorber, a condenser, and an evaporator/receiver. The two water evaporators have been incorporated into one methanol evaporator by the use of the concept of a gravity heat pipe. In order to improve the system efficiency and achieve continuous cooling production, the adsorbers are operated out-of-phase, and heat and mass recovery processes have been used. During the period from July to September of 2004, the system was put into experimental operation to cool the headspace (i.e., the air volume above the grain) of a grain bin. Three months of operation showed promising performance. The chiller had a cooling power between 66 and 90 W per m² of collector surface, with a daily solar cooling coefficient of performance (COP_solar) ranging from 0.096 to 0.13. The electric cooling COP was between 2.6 and 3.4.     

Plate-fin array cooling using a finger-like piezoelectric fan

In this study, the heat transfer of a plate-fin array cooled by a vibrating finger-like piezoelectric fan comprising four flexible rectangular blades was investigated. The results indicated that the heat transfer enhancement of the fin array cooled by a vibrating piezoelectric fan at x/L = 0.5 and H = 5 mm ranged between 1.5 and 3.3, regardless of the fin array orientation. However, the heat transfer enhancement caused by a fan being placed at either edge of the fin array yielded a dissimilar result between both of the fin array orientations because of the superimposed effects of the boundary layer development and the air flow induced by the fan. This dissimilarity was especially noticeable when the piezoelectric fan was composed of aluminum blades to accommodate the moderate Reynolds number. In addition to the Reynolds number, the ratio of the fan blade vibration envelope to the source area determined the Nu number of the piezoelectric fan-cooled fin array. This design enhanced the fin array heat transfer and reduced cooler volume by embedding multiple vibrating beams into the fin array.     

Optimum tip gap and orientation of multi-piezofan for heat transfer enhancement of finned heat sink in microelectronic cooling

Piezoelectric fans can be manipulated to generate airflow for cooling microelectronic devices. Their outstanding features include noise-free operation, low power consumption and suitability for confined spaces. This paper presents experimental optimization of tip gap and orientation angle of three piezoelectric fans (multi-piezofan) to maximize the heat removal performance of finned heat sink for microelectronic cooling. Design of experiments (DOE) approach is used for the optimization, and a three dimensional simulation using FLUENT 6.3.2 is carried out to better understand the flow induced by the multi-piezofan and the resulting heat transfer from the heat sink surface. For the optimization, the Central Composite Design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) is exploited from the Design Expert software. In the numerical model, the flow induced by the piezofan is treated as incompressible and turbulent; the turbulence is taken care by the shear stress transport (SST) k–ω model. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the predictions. Out of 13 experimental trials determined by CCD, the optimum tip gap and fan orientation are found to be δ = 0.17 and 90° respectively. At this condition, an enhancement in convective heat transfer coefficient exceeding 88% is achieved, compared to natural convection.