Synthetic jet actuators for cooling heated bodies and environments

A method for cooling a heated body, comprising the steps of:

• providing a synthetic jet actuator, said actuator having an orifice;
• drawing an ambient fluid into said synthetic jet actuator through the actuator orifice;
• generating a series of fluid vortices at an orifice of the synthetic jet actuator by forcing the ambient fluid out of said synthetic jet actuator, said vortices forming vortex sheets emanating from the orifice;
• forming a synthetic jet stream with the vortex sheets by entraining a fluid external to the synthetic jet actuator;
• and
• directing the synthetic jet stream of fluid such as to flow adjacent to the heated body.

A cooling system comprising:

• (a) a volume of fluid bounded by walls, said walls prohibiting mass transfer into or out of said volume so that the mass of fluid in said volume does not change;
• (b) a heated body in said volume;
• and
• (c) a synthetic jet actuator situated within said volume, said synthetic jet actuator emitting a synthetic jet stream directed at said heated body in order to transfer heat from said heated body.

A heat transfer system including a synthetic jet actuator for cooling a heated environment, said actuator comprising:

• a housing defined by walls, said housing having an internal chamber with a volume of ambient gas therein, one of the housing walls having an opening for fluid communication between the internal chamber and an external environment of ambient gas;
• and
• a means for generating vortex sheets of ambient gas at the opening of the internal chamber, the vortex sheets projecting into the external environment and forming a synthetic jet stream,
• wherein the synthetic jet stream is directed toward the heated environment in order to cool the heated environment.