The Effect of Piezoelectric Transducer Location on Heat Transfer Enhancement of an Ultrasonic-Assisted Liquid-Cooled CPU Radiator

Increasing the power of computer processors and reducing the size of these electronic components has turned the heat transfer issue into a significant challenge in their development. This study investigates the heat transfer enhancement in liquid CPU coolers by applying ultrasonic vibrations. A laboratory setup equipped with a wireless data acquisition system was designed and fabricated. Different configurations of ultrasonic piezoelectric transducers were considered: type 1, where both piezoelectric pieces were mounted on the radiator's top; type 2, where both piezoelectric pieces were mounted on the radiator's sides; type 3, where the piezoelectric pieces were mounted on the top and the sides of the radiator at a large distance from each other; and type 4, where the piezoelectric pieces were placed on the top and the sides of the radiator with a small distance between them. The experimental data showed that ultrasonic vibrations improve the cooling performance of computer processors in all four types, especially at lower volumetric airflow rates and higher ultrasonic power levels. Furthermore, a comparison of the different configurations indicated that type 4 and type 1 experienced the highest (20.68%) and the lowest (18.31%) heat transfer improvement due to ultrasonic vibrations.