Experimental and numerical analysis of electrohydrodynamic enhancement of heat transfer in air laminar channel flow

Abstract

This paper compares a numerical model of EHD (electrohydrodynamic)-enhanced heat transfer in air with experimental results. Many studies on electrohydrodynamics have been reported. However, the majority of these investigations are confined to only numerical/analytical or limited experimental analysis. Although a few combined numerical and experimental studies have been reported, most of them are restricted to natural convection. However, the main contribution of this work is to consider the implementation of corona wind in a duct with small hydraulic diameter (less than 1.0 cm). Implementing EHD in small gaps is of great interest, since it enables the enhancement of heat transfer of air flow in compact heat exchangers. Most previous literature is limited to larger hydraulic diameters, in the order of 10 cm or higher, thus not representing the fin spacing encountered in highly compact heat exchangers.