Performance of piezoelectric fins for heat dissipation

In this study, a conceptual design employs the piezoelectric patch to a copper plate to form a so-called piezoelectric fin applicable for heat dissipation. A total of nine piezoelectric fins subject to various bonding and piezoelectric patch are made and tested. A piezoelectric fin array is also fabricated as a substitute of heat sink under natural convection. It is found that the tip displacement and the decay of performance of piezoelectric fin are intimately related to the bonding glues. The bonding glues with a higher Young’s modulus lead to a larger fin tip displacement. The tip displacement increases with applied voltage and the length of piezoelectric patch and a maximum tip displacement of 10.9 mm is observed for TCE bonding under a 100 V power source. A maximum 64% heat transfer augmentation at a supplied power of 5 W is encountered for the piezoelectric fin array. The corresponding fin displacement in the fin array is suppressed owing to the resistant interactions amid adjacent piezoelectric fins. The heat transfer augmentation is moderately reduced to about 40% when the supplied power is raised to 15 W.