Miniaturization of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ionic wind pumps for thermal management

Corona discharge, the operation mechanism of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ionic wind pumps, is widely used in industry for applications such as air propulsion, charging particles or surfaces in electrostatic precipitators and photocopiers, dehumidification, and destruction of gaseous contaminants. Although using corona discharge induced air flow for heat transfer enhancement in microelectronics is a relatively new and unexplored field, the EHD ionic wind pumps could extend the limit of air cooling technology. The ionic wind pump can either be incorporated with existing flows or integrated into optimized thermal exchange structures to disturb the thermal boundary layer for heat transfer enhancement.;This thesis investigates the feasibility of EHD ionic wind pumps for thermal management in microelectronic and MEMS devices. A special emphasis is placed upon EHD ionic wind pump miniaturization and characterization in order to achieve lower device operation voltage, reduce ozone production, and enable device integration potential through microfabrication technology. The research work presented in this thesis engages several scientific and engineering challenges. In miniaturization of EHD ionic wind pumps, it is difficult to fabricate a monolithic EHD ionic wind pump on the same substrate. As the pump scales down, the measurement of corona discharge induced air velocity, thus the heat transfer rate, becomes complex and require more careful experimental setup than in macro scale. In addition, since the corona discharge is a coupled-physics process including plasma physics, electrohydrodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer, finite-element based modeling of EHD ionic wind pump can be complex and time-consuming. The ultimate challenge is to develop a novel cooling technology that rivals existing cooling solutions for air-side heat transfer.;The three thrusts presented in this thesis include the experimental results on miniaturization of EHD ionic wind pumps through microfabrication technology, the characterization results of miniaturized and microfabricated devices, and the evaluation of EFA-based air cooling solution for thermal management application. Experimental results demonstrate the viability of EFA-based air cooling technology as a thermal management solution in microelectronics and MEMS devices, where small form factor, low acoustics, and modest heat transfer rates are required.