Hotspot cooling is a significant problem in the thermal management of electronic devices. With device dimension scaling down, the dissipation space becomes more and more confined making hotspot cooling challenged. However, effective solutions are limited. In this study, the feasibility of hotspot cooling by ionic wind in confined space is justified. It is demonstrated that the hotspot in a confined channel can be suppressed effectively by ionic wind, which cannot be achieved by conventional pressure-driven flow even with a large Reynolds number. The underlying physics is revealed by the secondary vortices. The cooling strategies for a single hotspot and multiple hotspots are proposed. There exists strong interplay between the secondary corona jet and the bulk flow. Coupled mechanisms (impingement effect, barrier effect, and entrance effect) are explained to design a suitable electrode configuration for single hotspot cooling. However, the design strategy for single hotspot cannot be directly used for multiple hotspots and a new design concept of “intensify electrode pair” is proposed. It is also found that partial ground configuration is suitable for a single hotspot, while entire ground is better for multiple hotspots. This work provides a potential means for hotspot cooling of electronic devices in confined space.

热点冷却是电子设备热管理中的一个重要问题。随着器件尺寸的缩小，散热空间变得越来越狭窄，这给热点冷却带来了挑战。然而，有效的解决方案是有限的。在这项研究中，通过离子风在密闭空间中进行热点冷却的可行性是合理的。结果表明，离子风可以有效抑制受限通道中的热点，这是传统压力驱动流即使在雷诺数较大的情况下也无法实现的。次级涡流揭示了基本物理原理。提出了针对单个热点和多个热点的冷却策略。二次电晕射流和体流之间存在强烈的相互作用。耦合机制（冲击效应、屏障效应、和入口效应）被解释为单热点冷却设计合适的电极配置。然而，单一热点的设计策略不能直接用于多个热点，因此提出了“加强电极对”的新设计理念。还发现局部地面配置适用于单个热点，而整体地面配置更适合多个热点。这项工作为密闭空间中电子设备的热点冷却提供了一种潜在的手段。而整个地面更适合多个热点。这项工作为密闭空间中电子设备的热点冷却提供了一种潜在的手段。而整个地面更适合多个热点。这项工作为密闭空间中电子设备的热点冷却提供了一种潜在的手段。