Design Of Synthetic Jet Actuator Research Articles

STUDY THE ORIFICE EFFECTS OF A SYNTHETIC JET ACTUATOR DESIGN

The synthetic jet actuator is an active flow control device that is used to improve the aerodynamic performance on working surfaces such as wings, helicopter blades and ground vehicles. The performance of synthetic jet actuator depends on the design of the orifice and cavity, and the oscillating driver. Piezoelectric diaphragm was used as an oscillating driver because of its small size and easier installation. The focus of this project is to study the effects of orifice size and shape for a synthetic jet actuator design. The effects were studied on circular and rectangular shapes, and different sizes of orifice. Meanwhile, the configurations of the cavity are fixed. Experiments were performed to determine the maximum pulse jet velocity and turbulence intensities of the jet coming out of the orifice, driven by the Piezoelectric diaphragm at different frequencies, at constant input voltage of 2V. The experiment mainly involved the measurement of the exit pulse jet velocity using a hot-wire anemometer. The results demonstrated that the circular orifice produced higher maximum pulse jet velocity and smaller sizes orifices, both circular and rectangular, results in higher velocity jets.

Cavity Effect of Synthetic Jet Actuators Based on Piezoelectric Diaphragm

An active flow control technology known as synthetic jet actuator (SJA) is a zero-net mass-flux device to create pulsed jet that produces momentum to its surroundings and uses a vibrating diaphragm inside the cavity to generate an oscillatory flow through a small orifice. The performance of SJA depends on the design of an orifice and cavity, and oscillating membrane. SJA design based on piezoelectric diaphragm used in this project because of their size, lightweight, no need for external air supply, without the pipe complex, fast response time and low power consumption. This paper describes the cavity effect to SJA designs and experiments were performed to determine the air jet velocity produced through the orifice using a hot-wire anemometer at a different cavity thickness. The results demonstrate that the jet velocity increase would be better if the cavity thickness is reduced. However, more studies are needed to optimize the size of cavity and orifice for appropriate applications.

Evaluation of synthetic jet actuators design performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the synthetic jet actuator design's performance based on piezoelectric diaphragms that can be appropriately used for flow separation control.Design/methodology/approachDesign the synthetic jet actuators by means of estimating the several parameters and non‐dimensional parameters. Understanding the relationship and coupling effects of these parameters on the actuator to produce exit air jet required. Experiments were conducted to measure the exit air jet velocity using a hot‐wire anemometry and determine the good operational frequencies and voltages of the actuators for different cavity volume.FindingsThe performance of synthetic jet actuator is not consistent to a particular given frequency and it depends on design configurations. Each actuator will give a very good speed for a certain frequency. The results show that the exit air jet velocity increases would be better if the cavity volume is reduced and if the input voltage is increased to certain limits.Research limitations/implicationsThe limit of input voltage for the actuators that can be achieved for good jet speed is 2V of about 205V output voltage for each frequency. The jet speed obtained is sufficient enough to control the separation for an aircraft which has a small wing chord and low speed. Therefore, more studies are needed to optimize the sizes of an orifice and cavity, and the selection of piezoelectric diaphragm.Practical implicationsThe study helps in establishing a flow control device for controlling flow separation, especially on airfoils.Originality/valueDesign the synthetic jet actuators based on piezoelectric diaphragm for applications of flow separation control.

Lumped element modelling of synthetic jet actuators

In this paper, a lumped element model of synthetic jet actuator is presented and used to predict the temporal variation of the jet velocity. Unlike the previous model reported in the literature, in this model the mechanical movement of the diaphragm is decoupled from the fluid phenomenon in the actuator cavity to allow the modelling of fluid mechanics aspect of the actuator to be investigated and validated separately. Furthermore, the “minor losses” occurring at the orifice exit is included and linked to the jet exit velocity profile. The results from this model are validated using the existing experimental data and CFD simulations. It is found that this model is capable of predicting the temporal variation of synthetic jets both in phase and magnitude when the actuator is operating away from the Helmholtz resonance frequency. Although the model fails to predict the correct phase information at the Helmholtz resonance frequency, it can still produce the jet peak velocity that is in good agreement with the experimental data. The lumped element model presented in this paper can be used to provide a reliable prediction of the jet peak velocity needed in the initial design of synthetic jet actuators for practical applications.

Research on Fludic Dynamic Characteristics of the Piezoelectric Synthetic Jet Actuator

A two-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier—Stokes model is established for a synthetic jet actuator (SJA) fluid field. The working process of the SJA is studied in detail by numerical analysis. Then the synthetic jet fluidic characteristics are investigated under the different SJA design parameters that include diameter and thickness of orifice, and diameter and depth of cavity. The research results show that diameter of orifice is an important parameter that influences the synthesis of a jet, and diameter of cavity influences both the resonance frequency of membrane and the decay of jet velocity along the axial distance from the exit. And there is an optimal combination between orifice thickness and cavity depth that cause the maximum jet output velocity of SJA. Finally, a SJA specimen is manufactured and the test results are basically in accordance with the simulating conclusions.

Towards the Design of Synthetic-jet Actuators for Full-scale Flight Conditions

Due to the large parameter space that is involved in the design of synthetic-jet actuators used for flow separation control, it is essential to develop low-dimensional models for actuator-performance prediction and establish the conditions for design optimisation so that candidate actuators can be identified at the initial design stage. In Part 2 of this paper, three low-dimensional models that are capable of predicting actuator performance for synthetic jet actuators of different scales are described. Using these models the parametric relationships required for optimising the actuator performance are established. Finally, based on a better understanding of the fluid mechanics of synthetic jets (described in Part 1) and the improved modelling capacity, a methodology for designing synthetic-jet actuators used for flow separation control at full-scale flight conditions is developed. This methodology is illustrated in the design of actuators for delaying flow separation on the leading and trailing edge devices of a multi-element high-lift system of a typical commercial-aircraft wing at take-off conditions.