| Summary: | A significant amount of thermal energy (mainly under 200 °C) is wasted in the world. To utilize the waste heat, efficient heat management and thermal switching is required. The basic characteristics of a thermal switch that controls the flow of heat by switching on/off the ionic wind is discussed in this study. The study was conducted through experiments and numerical simulations. A heater made of aluminum block maintained at 100 °C was used as a heat source, and the rate of heat flow to a copper plate placed over it was measured. Ionic wind was induced by corona discharge with a needle placed on the heater. The ratio of heat transfer coefficients was obtained in the range of 3−4, with an energy efficiency of around 10. The heat flux at this condition was approximately 400 W/m<sup>2</sup>. The numerical simulations indicate that the heat transfer is enhanced by ionic winds, and the results were found to corroborate well with the experimental ones.
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