Brian Magann Rush

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF MICRO/NANO HEAT PIPE WICK STRUCTURES

The performance of electronic devices is limited by the capability to remove heat from these devices. A heat pipe is a device to facilitate heat transport that has seen increased usage to address this challenge. A heat pipe is a two-phase heat transfer device capable of transporting heat with minimal temperature gradient. An important component of a heat pipe is the wick structure, which transports the condensate from the condenser to the evaporator. The requirements for high heat transport capability and high resilience to external accelerations leads to the necessity of a design trade off in the wick geometry. This makes the wick performance a critical parameter in the design of heat pipes. The present study investigates experimental methods of testing capillary performance of wick structures ranging from micro- to nano-scales. These techniques will facilitate a pathway to the development of nano-engineered wick structures for high performance heat pipes.Copyright

Fluid-Structure Interaction Model of a Synthetic Jet Using Coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Elements

Synthetic jets offer new capabilities for localized active cooling of electronics due to their compact size, low cost and substantial cooling effectiveness. The design of devices to create synthetic jets and optimize active cooling performance is challenging due to the strong, two way, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) between the working fluid and the flexible structure that moves the fluid driven with piezoelectric actuators. Previous modeling efforts relied on lumped parameter approaches or electrical analogs. Although computationally less intensive, these approaches may not be accurate in all regions of the design space of interest and trade off fidelity for ease of use. In this effort, a 3D finite element model of the structure is coupled with a 3D computational fluid dynamics model of the fluid to explore the viability of such an approach. The motion of the structure moves the fluid grid, and the fluid feeds back pressure forces onto the structure that are required to converge at each iteration. Transient response of the deflection, pressure and exit velocity will be presented. Validation of the FSI model with experimental data for the frequency response of these quantities will also be presented.Copyright