Rutuja Bilaskar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai-400076, India
Sripriya Ramamoorthy
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai-400076, India
Shankar Krishnan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
The paper investigates heat transfer characteristics of a channel system consisting of a piezoelectric fan-driven mean flow agitated by the piezoelectric translational agitator (PTA). As the first step, experimental and numerical analysis is performed to determine vibration characteristics and heat transfer enhancement due to a single piezoelectric fan. Around 200% improvement in the average heat transfer coefficient is measured using a piezoelectric fan over the natural convection. Effect of varying fan frequency, input voltage, and distance between heater and fan's tip is assessed to determine optimum configuration. Numerical simulation is performed to evaluate heat transfer characteristics of a PTA oscillating between two parallel fins. Obtained results are found to be consistent with the existing literature data. For the proposed system, the time-dependent velocity flow generated by the piezoelectric fan is given as input to the PTA system. Around 51% increment in average heat transfer coefficient is observed for agitator frequency of 1.57rad/sec and squeezing fraction of 0.5, compared to the non-agitated state. Effect of change in Valensi number and squeezing fraction is plotted against Nusselt number for constant axial Reynolds number. Nusselt number is found to increase with an increase in both squeezing fraction and Valensi number.