Abstract
Natural convection as a preferred means for thermal management in view of its simplicity of implementation is fast approaching its limits in the face of increasing heat dissipation from electronics in conjunction with consumer demand for smaller devices. Although conventional methods for heat removal, such as incorporation of rotational fans are thermally viable, it is the minimized space, power and noise requirements that point to piezoelectric fans as a preferred alternative for thermal management. In this paper, original concept of Piezo fan which is composed of a single blade is explained. Then Piezo fan composed of double blade which is suitable for thin thermal solution is introduced. Principal operation of double blade Piezo fan is explained and performance is evaluated and is compared with conventional rotary fans. P-Q curves are typical characteristics of fans which are used for comparing performance of fans. A special flow measurement device which is capable of detecting very small flows is used to plot P-Q curves of Piezo fan. Several thermal tests which have been set up to evaluate cooling capacity of Piezo fan are explained and effect of different parameters on Piezo fan cooling performance is discussed. Acoustic noise and power consumption of Piezo fan are measured as well as evaluation of DC/AC converter which is done in order to understand the function of circuit driver for running Piezo fan.
