| dc.description.abstract | The rising power consumption of electronic components requires higher and higher thermal dissipation. Current fan systems, commercially known as "coolers", are becoming ineffective to cope with this demand since their performance is dependent on the volumetric flow rate of the driving fan, which becomes more wasteful and noisy. An alternative to improve the heat exchange of current systems is the application of (micro) synthetic jets. These are produced by the oscillations in a cavity bounded by a membrane and a plate with an orifice. Membrane actuation produces a net forward momentum jet through the orifice, which can be applied to cool an electronic device. For this analysis, a numerical model of the cooling device was built on ANSYS CFX 12.0. Variations in jet Reynolds and Strouhal numbers and positioning of the heated region of interest were made and their effect on thermal performance analyzed. Results were compared to a conventional flow with the same geometry but subjected to a single-fan providing steady flow with the same average mass flow rate induced by each synthetic jet. For the configurations tested, it was found that (micro) synthetic jets may provide more directed air flow for "hotspots" with the greatest need of cooling. The results indicate a thermal performance up to 122% higher compared to their equivalent conventional cooling case. This confirmation of the higher thermal performance of synthetic jets relative to a convencional method and justifies the need for the current and additional investigations in this area. Results also indicate that synthetic jets can be customized and specifically directed to meet the cooling demand of the problem in question. | |
