Local hotspot thermal management improved by ionic wind generator coupled with porous materials

Abstract

Ionic wind is induced by corona discharge caused by extremely inhomogeneous electric field between two electrodes. Due to its compact size, energy saving, flexible design, and easy integration, ionic wind technique exhibits great potential to improve hotspot cooling, especially for compact electronic devices. However, the heat removal capability towards high power density is relatively low due to the limited heat transfer area and low air thermal conductivity. The principle and designs are still lacking for local hotspot cooling. Here, an ionic wind generator with a novel architecture coupled with porous medium is conceived to enhance cooling performance. It is demonstrated that when a porous medium block is coupled, heat transfer can be significantly boosted due to the modified heat and mass transfer in the porous block. It is also found that electrode configuration significantly influences the device performance. There is a trade-off between heat transfer area and airflow impediment in the device. The geometry and property parameters of the porous block are critical for the cooling performance, which is attributed to the modified flow field by changing porous structure. Based on this principle, another ionic wind generator improved by a coupled heat sink with porous fins is proposed, whose performance can be further enhanced by optimizing its design parameters. The optimized heat sink structure can maintain the max temperature of the cooling surface below 83.2 °C at a heat flux of 90 kW/m2. This study provides a promising way for air-side thermal management of hotspot. The findings are helpful for understanding EHD-induced airflow heat transfer in porous medium and shed new light on designing ionic wind generators with better performance.