Capillary/Narrow Flow Channel Driven EHD Gas Pump for an Advanced Thermal Management of Micro-Electronics

In order to study the feasibility of applying electrohydrodynamic (EHD) gas pumps for advanced thermal management of micro-electronics, an experimental investigation was conducted to drive gas flow through capillary or narrow flow channel by EHD gas pumps. The net gas flow induced by corona discharge was generated in PF (push fan) type EHD gas pump with and without partially covered corona wire and non-parallel ground plate electrodes to transfer gas through sub-millimeter order circular channels. Therefore, it is important to know the effect of narrow or capillary channel on the characteristics of EHD gas pump with the corona wire electrode covered. The results show that the effects of narrow and capillary circular flow channels significantly influence flow characteristics of PF type EHD gas pump with the corona wire electrode covered under dc positive applied voltage.