Experimental study on heat transfer characteristics of synthetic jet driven by piston actuator

Experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the impingement heat transfer performance of a synthetic jet driven by piston actuator on a constant heat flux surface. Effects of jet formation frequency, nozzle-to-surface spacing ratio and conjugation of cross flow were considered. The synthetic jet is of stronger penetration and heat transfer capacity when the piston reciprocates at relatively high frequency. Similar to the continuous jet impingement, nozzle-to-surface spacing ratio plays an important role in the heat transfer enhancement of synthetic jet. The optimum nozzle-to-surface spacing ratio corresponding to maximum heat transfer enhancement is considerably high in the synthetic jet, as compared to that in a continuous jet, which indicates that the synthetic jet introduces a stronger entrainment and more vigorous penetration in the surrounding fluid. The convective heat transfer capacity is enhanced significantly under the conjugate action of a synthetic jet and cross flow in comparison with their individual action.