Abstract: Ion wind fans can charge up or spark to the walls of an enclosure. In one embodiment, a heat source can be thermally managed using an ion wind fan by coupling the heat source to a heat spreader that also functions as a wall of an enclosure that contains the ion wind fan. A portion of the heat spreader is then electrically isolated from the ion wind fan, the portion being less than a minimum predetermined distance from the one or more emitter electrodes of the ion wind fan, to avid sparking between the emitters and the enclosure.

Abstract: An ion wind fan can be manufactured efficiently using insert molding. In one embodiment, the present invention includes an ion wind fan having an isolator with an emitter bus plate and an emitter attachment plate insert molded into isolator. A collector electrode is further insert molded into the isolator. The collector electrode is supported in part by two collector supports. One or more wire emitter electrodes are welded to the emitter bus plate at a first end of the emitter wires and to the emitter attachment plate at a second end of the emitter wires.

Abstract: An ion wind fan can be made more resistant to electrical arcing by designing a supporting dielectric further from an emitter electrode. In one embodiment, such an ion wind fan according to one embodiment of the present invention has an emitter electrode and a collector electrode, and an isolator comprising a dielectric to provide electrical isolation for one or both of the emitter electrode and the collector electrode. In one embodiment, the isolator has a tapered sidewall so that the sidewall becomes thinner in the upstream direction over at least a portion of the sidewall. In one embodiment, the taper is a linear taper.

Abstract: An ion wind fan can have a collector electrode that mitigates the risk of sparking. In one embodiment, an ion wind can include a wire emitter electrode held in tension in a first direction, and a collector electrode having an elongated opening having an upstream edge and a downstream edge, the elongated opening being elongated in the first direction and positioned downstream of the wire emitter electrode so that the wire emitter electrode is substantially centered along the length of the elongated opening. The downstream edge of the elongated opening includes a chamfered portion.