Blowerless Heat Exchanger Using Micro-Jet Entrainment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers for electronic cooling rely on inefficient external air-moving components like blowers or fans, leading to poor heat transfer efficiency, high power consumption, and increased system size due to the need for large fin areas and bulky external components.
Innovation Solution
A blowerless heat exchanger utilizing micro-jet entrainment, where a dense array of micro-jet nozzles on the fins induces airflow and turbulence, enhancing heat transfer with reduced fin surface area and power consumption, using compressed air to create high-velocity micro-jets that entrain a larger air mass for efficient heat removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional heat exchangers use external blowers or fans to provide airflow, then convective heat transfer can be achieved, but power consumption increases and system efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the external blower or fan component from the heat exchanger system. Instead of using separate air-moving devices, the patent integrates air movement functionality directly into the heat exchanger structure through induced flow mechanisms, thereby removing the source of high power consumption while maintaining heat transfer capability
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger becomes self-sufficient by generating its own airflow through the induced flow mechanism. The structure itself creates the necessary air movement for convective heat transfer without requiring external power sources, making the system self-powered and eliminating energy waste associated with separate air-moving components
2Area of stationary object
If large fin area is used to achieve sufficient heat transfer, then heat transfer area increases, but device size increases and flow resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality enhancement by creating regions of high-velocity induced flow at specific locations within the heat exchanger. Instead of relying on uniform large surface area, the patent concentrates airflow energy in localized regions to achieve superior heat transfer coefficients, allowing for reduced overall fin area while maintaining or improving heat transfer performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the flow velocity parameter through the induced flow mechanism, creating high-velocity air movement that significantly enhances convective heat transfer coefficients. This parameter change allows the system to achieve sufficient heat transfer with smaller surface area compared to conventional low-velocity forced convection systems
3Area of stationary object
If dense fin placement is used to increase heat transfer area, then fin area increases, but pressure drop increases and power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces dynamic airflow characteristics through the induced flow mechanism, creating variable velocity profiles that adapt to the fin structure. This dynamic flow pattern allows efficient heat transfer without requiring dense fin placement, thereby maintaining lower pressure drop compared to static dense fin configurations
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The blowerless heat exchanger achieves low thermal resistance and significant size reduction by increasing heat transfer efficiency and reducing power consumption, with micro-jet entrainment enhancing heat transfer coefficients and allowing larger fin spacing, resulting in a more compact and efficient thermal management system.
Implementation Method 1
micro-jet entrainment induces strong turbulence on the fin surface, which significantly enhances heat transfer from the fin surface to the air
Implementation Method 2
the momentum of the jets is transferred to a much larger air mass, resulting in the movement of the larger air mass at a slower speed
Implementation Method 3
micro-jet entrainment induces strong turbulence on the fin surface, which significantly enhances heat transfer from the fin surface to the air
Data Source
AI summary
A blowerless heat exchanger apparatus based on micro-jet entrainment is disclosed. The heat exchanger apparatus incorporates a number of fins regularly spaced apart from each other and parallel to each other, thus letting air currents flow in the space defined between them. A dense array of micro-jet nozzles can be fabricated on the fins surface pointing to the flow direction of the air movement in order to induce increase airflow. The air from an air compressor delivers sufficient airflow on the fins surface utilizing micro-jets entrainment. The micro-jet entrainment confirms strong turbulent around the micro-jets and suggests significant heat transfer enhancement. The turbulence from the micro-jets enhance the heat transfer coefficient, potentially by an order of magnitude, therefore allowing much larger fin spacing and leads to huge reduction of flow resistance and overall power consumption.