Flow distribution and cooling performance of needle-to-ring ionic wind blowers with multiple electrodes.

• Dual-stage blowers with different subunit structure are developed. • The evolution process and flow distribution of ionic wind are explored. • Working efficiency of dual-stage blower was evaluated. • The dual-stage blower performed better in cooling. Electronics have an increased thermal flow density due to the development of miniaturization and high integration. Effective heat management is a pressing technological issue that must be addressed. Ionic wind cooling technology is gaining popularity as a means of improving local heat dissipation. Ionic wind blowers with two non-uniform 'needles-to-ring' subunits in series were proposed in the present work. The dynamic evolution process and flow distribution characteristics of the ionic wind for different combined structures were investigated. The operation and maintenance characteristics were optimized to increase ionic wind strength. Experiments are performed to explore the variability of system temperature and mean heat transfer coefficient when the combined ionic wind blowers are employed to improve cooling performance. The results reveal that by employing an additional collecting electrode, charged particles may be accelerated twice, increasing the ionic wind intensity. The dual-stage ionic wind blower with D 1 =32 mm and D 2 =22 mm has a greater mean velocity and a wider flow dispersion than the others. There will be apparent backflow near the ring electrode during the early stages of ionic wind production, but the backflow steadily lessens until it evaporates. The operating performance of a dual-stage blower is better when cooling a high-power heat source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]