A review of piezoelectric fans for low energy cooling of power electronics

Abstract

Power consumption from electrical devices increases year upon year, and as a result thermal management of power electronics is becoming ever more relevant. This review summarises the advancements made in the piezoelectric fan optimisation since their invention in the late 1970s. Energy consumption is highly relevant, and is an underlying theme throughout. Emphasis is placed on the methods undertaken to optimise designs for many different applications, and critical analysis of these processes is included. Comparison of data taken from different studies highlights the well-established rules of piezoelectric fan design and, more importantly for future advancements, also identifies the aspects of design which are not fully understood. Numerical modelling has become an

Wake vortex regimes of a pitching cantilever plate in quiescent air and their correlation with mean flow generation

“…Interactions between vibrating cantilever plates and surrounding fluids have been the subject of many studies. These structures have continued to gain attention due to a variety of applications, such as piezoelectric fans for electronics cooling [1]- [3], electrostatic [4] and electromagnetic [5] fluid accelerators, energy harvesting using vortex induced vibrations [6]- [8], micro air vehicles (MAVs) [9], ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) [10]- [13], and micro-mixers and aerosol collectors [14]. Applications that require net flow generation, such as piezoelectric fans, rely primarily on vortex generation at the trailing edges.…”

Thin Thermal Management Modules Using Flattened Heat Pipes and Piezoelectric Fans for Electronic Devices

“…The phase change process can transfer large amounts of heat with small temperature drops which is responsible for the excellent capabilities of the heat pipe. Piezoelectric fans operate on the piezoelectric effect whereby a material deforms under an applied alternating current (Hales and Jiang, 2018). The deforming element (actuator) typically has an extended blade attached to it since the deformation is very small.…”

Design and Experimental Analysis of Charge Recovery for Piezoelectric Fan

“…Active strategies of heat transfer enhancement have been pursued such as mechanical aids [2], electrostatic fields [3], and fluid vibration [4]. Among them, the PE fan becomes a feasible solution for electronic cooling applications due to its low power consumption, simple structure, high reliability, and low noise emission [5][6][7][8][9].…”