Design and fabrication of piezoelectric synthetic jet for cooling during plastic 3D printing

Project Title

Design and fabrication of piezoelectric synthetic jet for cooling during plastic 3D printing

Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject Summary

To make intricate geometries with 3D plastic printing it is necessary to cool the molten plastic extruded from the nozzle timely. Not doing so can result in a distorted shape. Normally conventional fans are used for this purpose, they acquire more space and sound. A more space-efficient and acoustically good way of cooling can be achieved by using piezoelectric synthetic jets. Synthetic jets use ambient air just like our lungs. A flexible membrane placed inside an enclosure with piezoelectric actuator moves to and from according to set the frequency and pushes air out of a small orifice. The synthetic jet application can also provide us the same size and orientation flexibility while designing our heat sinks. Synthetic jet enables us to design heat sinks that are orientation independent.

Project Objectives

The project objectives include the development of a PLA-based FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printer, the critical part will be to develop a synthetic jet for cooling the extruded PLA on the platform. The 3D printer will be developed a such so that both the conventional fan and synthetic jet can be installed on it.

The first step in the development of a synthetic jet will be the enclosure and clamp to hold all the parts of the jet together. The enclosure will be printed with a hole in the center. To move the ambient air inside and out, a flexible membrane will be clamped in the enclosure. The mechanical input to the membrane will be delivered through a piezoelectric wafer attached to the flexible membrane.

After the development of a 3D printer and synthetic jet, we will experiment with it and compare the effectiveness of the 3D printer with conventional fans normally used with FDM printers and the one we will use with synthetic jet. The effectiveness of both the printers i.e. one with a conventional fan and one with a synthetic jet will be checked by the quality of the 3D printed parts.

The main objective of this project will be to sell the final product.

Project Implementation Method

The project will be completed in three parts

1. Development of an FDM 3D printer: This will be done by making a 3D model of the printer and then ordering the parts required to build a 3D printer. The parts will be assembled, and the software will be used available for free to generate the G-code.
2. Development of a synthetic jet using a flexible membrane and piezo-electric wafer, these items will be purchased. The enclosure where these parts will fit will be 3D printed
3. Experimenting with the conventional fan installed on the 3D printer and then replacing it with the synthetic jet and checking the final built part’s quality.

Benefits of the Project

This project will have the following benefits

1. Students will be trained to build their own 3D printer with a potentially novel way of cooling their extruded part
2. They will try to build different configurations of the synthetic jet, which is an energy-efficient cooler that has zero mass flux due to its usage of ambient air.
3. The students can also take their product to the market and the main objective is to sell their final product and promote entrepreneurship amongst the students.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The dimensions and other technical specifications of the 3D printer to be built.

Build volume: length: 30 cm, width: 30.5 cm and height: 45.5cm

Layer resolution: 100 microns

Filament: Standard PLA Filament available in the market

Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm

Construction: PLA

Stepper Motors: 1.8° step angle with 1/16 micro-stepping

XY Positioning Precision: 11 microns [0.0004 in]

Z Positioning Precision: 2.5 microns [0.0001 in]

Dimensions and Technical specifications of synthetic jet.

Build Volume: Length: 8 cm, Width: 8 cm, Height: 1cm

Piezo-electric wafer (PZT) active sensor attached to a flexible membrane

PZT driving frequency 108 kHz and 5V of driving voltage to generate the required vibration.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther Industries Education Core Technology 3D/4D PrintingOther Technologies Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	79500
Standard PLA Filament	Equipment	5	5500	27500
Piezo-electric wafer (PZT) active sensor	Miscellaneous	2	5000	10000
3D printer Parts	Equipment	1	30000	30000
Stepper Motors	Equipment	2	6000	12000