Plasma display panel cooling by an acoustic pulsating flow device

The present study aims at investigating the efficacy of an acoustic pulsating flow device for heat dissipation from a state-of-the-art plasma display panel (PDP) TV. The acoustic pulsating flow device utilizes a low-frequency pressure wave generated from an acoustic woofer to cool down heat dissipating electronic components inside a PDP TV compartment. The acoustic woofer is vertically installed through a duct on the back housing of an actual 42-inch PDP TV so that low-frequency pressure wave is imposed into the slender compartment between the plasma display panel chassis and the compartment housing. The experimental results show that the acoustic flow pulsation with a specific geometrically matched flow frequency enhances air mixing dramatically inside the compartment, and results in substantially reduced surface temperatures of electronic components. Further, it significantly attenuates strong thermal stratification formed in the compartment, which provides more enhanced thermal reliability to the PDP TV. The air temperature in the compartment decreases about 30%. The surface temperatures on a metallic PDP housing part and an electronic component are also reduced about 14% and 7%, respectively.