This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cho, D.-B. Articles by Koratkar, N. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Coating for Improved Thermal Management in Piezoceramic Sheet Actuators

Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA, koratn{at}rpi.edu

Jonghwan Suhr

Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

Nikhil A. Koratkar

Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

Minimally intrusive carbon nanotube coatings are used to demonstrate improved thermal management in piezoceramic actuators. Because of their nanoscale cylindrical structure, carbon nanotubes provide an order of magnitude increase in the exposed surface area compared to the uncoated piezoceramic sheet. This along with their excellent thermal conductivity allows the nanotube coating to act as a heat sink, drawing energy away from the bulk piezoceramic material and dissipating it to the atmosphere. Reduced self-heating of the actuator minimizes capacitive losses and reduces actuator power consumption. To demonstrate the concept, carbon nanotube films are deposited on the surfaces of 0.025 cm thick, commercially available PZT-5H sheets. Two types of carbon-based nanostructures are used to construct the coatings - (1) fluorine functionalized single-walled nanotubes (F-SWNTs) and (2) multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs). The F-SWNT coating performs better than the MWNT coating and gives up to 40% reduction in surface temperature and 25% reduction in power consumption compared to the baseline uncoated actuator (for the same induced-strain level).

Key Words: carbon nanotubes • thermal management • piezoelectric actuators • piezoceramic self-heating

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Vol. 17, No. 3, 209-216 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1045389X06055288


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?