Aerodynamic damping and heat transfer of piezoelectric fan in confined space

Purpose The main objective is to investigate the correlations among the unsteady flow, nonlinear aerodynamic damping, amplitude response and heat transfer characteristics of a piezoelectric fan under various spatial confinement conditions. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, the multidisciplinary coupling analysis method for fluid–thermal–structure interaction (FTSI) has been studied and validated. Findings This study’s findings are as follows: (1) piezoelectric fan in the non-vacuum environment exhibit significant amplitude decay due to aerodynamic damping, causing a reduction in maximum amplitude by almost 50% compared to that in a vacuum. Furthermore, the effect of confined space cannot be ignored. When the sidewall gap d1 is approximately 1 mm, the maximum amplitude of the fan blade decreases by 60%. (2) The analysis based on FTSI demonstrates that there is interaction between blade deformation and aerodynamic damping, which results in corresponding changes in the induced jet and heat transfer characteristics. Originality/value Theoretical analysis and FTSI simulation studies have been carried out to explore the correlations among the unsteady flow, nonlinear aerodynamic forces, amplitude response and heat transfer characteristics of piezoelectric fans under various spatial confinement conditions. The analysis based on bidirectional fluid–solid interaction demonstrates a significant interaction between blade deformation and aerodynamic damping, which results in corresponding changes in the induced jet and heat transfer characteristics.