A numerical study on the heat transfer generated by a piezoelectric transducer in a microfluidic system

Abstract

The present work describes the modelling of heat transfer produced by the acoustic streaming phenomenon, generated through a piezoelectric transducer in a microagitator. Besides the fluids mixing, this phenomenon also promotes the fluids heating. The numerical approach used in this work comprises three main groups of equations: the piezoelectric, the compressible Navier-Stokes, and the heat transfer equations. It was concluded that the heat transfer due to the acoustic wave propagation, without other external heat sources, is not sufficient to increase significantly the fluid temperature.