HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS OF A COMBINED PIEZOELECTRIC FAN–TRANSLATIONAL AGITATOR COOLING SYSTEM

Abstract

This paper investigates the heat transfer characteristics of a channel system consisting of a finned heat sink and two piezoelectric devices, the piezoelectric fan (PF) and the piezoelectric translational agitator (PTA), both experimentally and computationally. In the proposed system, the mean flow is generated by a cantilevered PF, and the flow between the fins is agitated using a PTA. A single-channel system consisting of a PTA, the PF, and two fins is analyzed numerically using ANSYS Fluent software after validating numerical predictions against experimental measurements. The effect of design variables such as frequency ratio, phase difference, PF's tip distance from PTA, and squeezing fraction is explored. A PTA increases the heat transfer from the heated surfaces without incrementally aiding in the mass-flow rate. Velocity and temperature fields are plotted to understand the physics of the system for one complete cycle of a PTA blade. The concept of total Reynolds number that incorporates the effect of both axial and transverse fluid flow is used in this study. The Nusselt number increases with an increment in the total Reynolds number. It is noted that the integration of the PF and the PTA with the finned heat sink system has enhanced the heat transfer coefficient by 76.88% compared to the system with PTA and by 30.92% as compared to the system with the PF only.