Thermal management of sealed electronic enclosures using synthetic technology

摘要

Sealed electronic enclosures are becoming more common in the electronics industry and are difficult to cool with air because an external air supply is not permissible. Furthermore, cooling schemes that employ alternative fluids may be tooexpensive for many consumer electronics applications. This paper reports the results of an experiment to demonstrate that synthetic jet technology can provide improved air circulation within a sealed electronic enclosure and can thereby reduce theoperating temperature of installed electronic components.A model of a sealed electronic enclosure was constructed and a 2.54 cm×2.54 cm Kapton heater, energized to 0.85 W, was installed on the center of one inside surface of the enclosure. A synthetic jet actuator with an 0.16-cm diameter orifice was used tocreate a jet of air that impinged normal to the heater surface. With the synthetic jet off and the heater energized, steady-state conditions were attained alter about 1500 seconds, and the heater reached a temperature of approximately 56°C with an ambient temperature of 23°C. After the synthetic jet was powered, a new steady-state condition was reached within 900 seconds, and the heater temperature decreased 14°C to value of about 42°C. Thus, the temperature rise above ambient was reduced by more than 40percent with the synthetic jet operating.