Enhancement of Near-Field Heat Transfer Performance of a Piezoelectric Synthetic Jet with Outlet Flaps

This study experimentally investigates a compact side-exhaust piezoelectric synthetic jet actuator equipped with outlet flaps and compares its performance with a flap-free baseline design. The flap concept is intended to mitigate hot-air recirculation during the suction phase and thereby improve near-field cooling in confined layouts. Experiments were conducted under a 350 Hz, 60 Vpp driving signal with an exit dimension of 20 mm × 1 mm. An initial screening campaign evaluated 24 flap configurations by varying flap length, thickness, and installation distance; the results showed that overly long flaps impose substantial blockage and momentum loss, and therefore the flow analysis was narrowed to a practical flap length of 29.5 mm. The final velocity characterization focuses on two representative flap thicknesses (0.1 mm and 0.5 mm) and three installation distances (5, 10, and 15 mm from the exit). For heat transfer evaluation, the nozzle-to-target spacing was varied from 5 to 50 mm in 5 mm increments. The modified actuator demonstrates improved near-field cooling performance, with the best case achieved using 0.1 mm flaps installed at 5 mm, yielding a maximum Nusselt number enhancement of 6.24% relative to the baseline at very small spacings. Furthermore, the thermal benefit becomes more pronounced at elevated heat source temperatures, with the strongest improvement observed around 60–80 °C (up to ~13% at 60 °C). These results provide practical design guidance for enhancing localized convective heat transfer in compact electronics cooling applications.