Investigation and application of an advanced dual piezoelectric cooling jet to a typical electronics cooling configuration

Abstract

In recent years, electronics have significantly reduced in size at maintained or increased functionality. This trend has led to an increased demand for more capable thermal management solutions at smaller scales. However, miniaturization of conventional fan and heat sink cooling systems introduces significant size, weight and efficiency challenges. In this study the flow performance of a novel thin form-factor cooling solution, the advanced dual piezoelectric cooling jet (DCJ), is evaluated. A DCJ is a micro-fluidic device that disturbs the boundary layer over a hot component and hence increases heat transfer. The design of an equivalent fan-curve experiment is described in detail. A first ever fan curve for a bimorph DCJ device is presented. This is coupled to a thermal performance analysis using an experiment simulating thin profile consumer electronics.