Utilizing auxiliary electrodes in ionic wind blowers to improve the flow distribution

Abstract

Abstract A new kind of ionic wind blower that employs auxiliary electrodes to boost the ionic wind velocity and enhance the cooling efficiency is developed to address the issue of heat dissipation in electronic devices with high heat flux densities. The ‘wire-mesh-auxiliary electrode’ and ‘needle-mesh-auxiliary electrode’ blowers have been designed. An emitter, a collector, and two auxiliary electrodes make up each structure. Before determining the optimum operational voltages for the auxiliary electrode under the two configurations, experiments are carried out to confirm the secondary acceleration effect of the auxiliary electrodes. The effects of the auxiliary electrode's spacing and the voltage polarity supplied to the emitting electrode and auxiliary electrodes on the produced ionic wind velocity are investigated once the working voltage has been determined. Finally, a simulation computation is implemented to look into the ionic wind flow distribution in the ‘needle-mesh-auxiliary electrode’ blower. The findings indicate that in terms of voltage endurance operating range and maximum output ionic wind velocity, the ‘needle-mesh-auxiliary electrode’ blower outperforms the ‘wire-mesh-auxiliary electrode’ blower. The system's output ionic wind velocity is greater when negative high voltage is supplied to the emitting electrode and positive high power is applied to the auxiliary electrode. Following the use of auxiliary electrodes, a considerable amount of electrons condense in the central area between the two auxiliary electrodes, creating an ion jet downstream. The output velocity of the ionic wind is greater, and the flow is more concentrated. Some electrons in the mainstream produce the reverse ionic wind under the influence of the electric field downstream of the auxiliary electrodes, which disrupts and deflects the mainstream's velocity.