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Silent Microchip 'Fan' Has No Moving Parts

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Mar 19, 2008 07:20 PM
from the cool-off dept.
Technology Hardware
Stony Stevenson writes "Researchers in the US have developed a microchip fan with no moving parts that operates silently and generates enough wind to cool a laptop computer. The solid-state fan, developed with support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), is touted as the most powerful and energy efficient fan of its size. The device produces three times the flow rate of a typical small mechanical fan and is one-fourth the size. The technology has the power to cool a 25W chip with a device smaller than one cubic-cm and can someday be integrated into silicon to make self-cooling chips, according to the researchers."
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Submission: Silent microchip 'fan' has no moving parts by Stony Stevenson (954022)
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  • Just when you thought anti-gravity [americanantigravity.com] was dead for good. Hey, at least this thing sounds like it will work as advertised...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by goombah99 (560566)
      On the same day they announce the "best invention since the heat pipe", someone announces a better heat pipe---the room temperature super conductor! back to back articles [slashdot.org] annihilate.

  • nothing new.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by miknix (1047580) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:29PM (#22802138)
    .. using ionic winds to cool the CPU isn't a new idea:

        http://inventgeek.com/Projects/IonCooler3/overview.aspx [inventgeek.com]

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TerranFury (726743)

      Indeed. What's the date on that project? I didn't see one on the website. Me, I had posted a similar idea on the Halfbakery years ago: Here it is [halfbakery.com]. I guess this is an idea lots of people come up with?

      The novel part here, I'd say, is micromachining the thing on the die.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by snl2587 (1177409)

      Granted, the idea of using ionic wind isn't revolutionary, but I think the size is. One cubic centimeter for a 25W chip? Damn.

    • Re:nothing new.. (Score:4, Informative)

      by eclectic4 (665330) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:00PM (#22802380)
      "..is touted as the most powerful and energy efficient fan of its size (no mention of it being a "new" idea). The device produces three times the flow rate of a typical small mechanical fan and is one-fourth the size. The technology has the power to cool a 25W chip with a device smaller than one cubic-cm..."

      I think the above is what's important. I believe the title of the article is just a tad misleading...

  • Cool! (Score:5, Informative)

    by camperdave (969942) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:29PM (#22802144) Journal
    I'm sure by now someone has said "Cool!"

    So this thing works similar to an ion drive. A stream of ions from one wire to another drags the surrounding air with it, generating wind. The last entry here [tfot.info] has a good graphic.

  • just a few seconds... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:31PM (#22802168)
    ...until someone tags this whatcouldpossiblygowrong.

  • Now this should be on the list... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by The Ancients (626689) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:34PM (#22802190) Homepage

    The TR list discussed here, that is: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/12/176227 [slashdot.org]

    This I can see as having many applications, including those rather warm MacBookAirs ;-)

  • Timing is everything (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cizoozic (1196001) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:36PM (#22802208)
    Just in time for Room-Temperature Superconductors! [slashdot.org] Oh monkeytrumpets.

    But seriously, it sounds pretty... cool... and the article suggests that it uses plasma on extremely small scale, which is also pretty nifty. My concern would be dust. Every laptop I've had turns into a dustbuster that continuously cleans my desk. Unfortunately the collection cup (the fan and ducting) isn't easily removable. Maybe just use two of them in series but configure the first as an Ionic Breeze? Isn't that essentially what this thing is anyway? If it is, I don't know how the Ionic Breeze descriptions managed to omit the word PLASMA in their Sharper Image ads.

  • Some technical info and pic... (Score:5, Informative)

    by fractalrock (662410) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:39PM (#22802246)
    Can be found here. [thorrn.com]

  • Intel Nehalem (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Armon (932023) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @07:50PM (#22802320)
    I hope this technology finds its way onto Intel Nehalem... SSD + SS Fan = Dead silent laptop Now if only we could get batteries 12 times more efficient

  • I wonder (Score:5, Insightful)

    by no-body (127863) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:01PM (#22802388)
    how this would held up in a dusty environment - Q-Tips still working?

    • Re:I wonder (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Pollux (102520) <{splien} {at} {gauss.cord.edu}> on Wednesday March 19 2008, @10:31PM (#22803298) Journal
      Actually, this is a very good point that the parent brings up. The way corona discharge is possible is to push a very high voltage with very low amperage through a very small electrode. The high voltage creates the ion flow, but the low amperage prevents arcing from occuring. However, if a pool of dust collects between the electrodes, you'll have an easy path for the electricity to arc across.

      Not to mention that you better not drop a screw in the case while it's in operation! Or a screwdriver, or a paper clip, or other random metalic objects.

      Brilliant idea, neat application, but there's always a risk involved when you're playing with high voltage, even micro-amps worth.

  • Great but.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Assassin bug (835070) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:13PM (#22802456) Journal
    Proprietary product [thorrn.com] produced via NSF funding at Prudue University (a public Land Grant university)? Hasn't there been some talk about public access to NSF-funded research?
      • Sure. That's my point. I wonder if these companies will be granted an exemption from the you-used-public-funds so you-share-your-research legislation that may one day come off the political floor.

  • "Of its size" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Guppy (12314) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:25PM (#22802548)

    the most powerful and energy efficient fan of its size.
    "Of its size" is the important part. From what I can tell, it's not that the device is so much more efficient that rotary fans in general, but that rotary fans do not scale down in size -- if you look at a 25mm PC cooling fans, the motor hub takes up most of the tiny cross-section available, leaving little stubby fins that manage to move only a pittance despite whining at high RPMs.
  • From plasma discharge, to omitting ozone, to collecting dust... This thing sounds like way too much trouble than it's worth. While the concept sounds amazing and I would love to be able to implement these into UMPCs and laptops, it's just going to do more harm than good.

  • Hooray for Ozone generators! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Khyber (864651) <khyberkitsune@gmail.com> on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:33PM (#22802598) Journal
    Just what I don't need, free-radical generators. Not only is it a component of smog, but it's bad for organic substances as well. No thanks, I'll stick with a ball-bearing fan.
  • It's called a quarter ffs.

  • Not as cool as it looks. . . (Score:3, Informative)

    by puppetluva (46903) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:47PM (#22802702)
    I hear that the only downside to this new technology is that it throws off a lot of heat.

    I hate to burst your bubble, Fanbois. . .

    ba-dum, bum
  • It appears that the size comparisons for this device do not include the dimensions of the high voltage power supply needed to operate it. It's possible that the efficiency numbers don't include the power supply conversion efficiency either. Since small, efficient high voltage power supplies tend to be highly nontrivial and somewhat expensive to build, that is a significant hurdle to adoption. Consider the size and power draw of the inverter needed to power the backlight in a laptop, and now consider that
  • So when does the jet engine version come out?

  • Efficiency (Score:3, Interesting)

    by flyingfsck (986395) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @10:01PM (#22803140)
    Hmm, what they are not saying is that they are likely using 30W of power to cool a 25W chip...
  • I found the articles fascinating and... Way Cool (pun intended).

    The High-Velocity aspect of the fan v. volumes was also very interesting. Faster isn't always better.
    • The phenomenon is called corona wind.

      And the product is called Ionic Breeze [ionic-purifiers.info]

      • Re:Make me read the article... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Original Replica (908688) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:11PM (#22802444) Journal
        That was my first thought as well. I have an Ionic Breeze, and when I don't clean it regularly (once a week) it makes loud crackling noises and begins producing small electric arcs. Who is going to clean their CPU fan weekly?

      • Re:Make me read the article... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by WaltBusterkeys (1156557) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @08:21PM (#22802514)
        Will this produce the same ozone (O3) emissions [msn.com] that the Ionic breeze does? It's not a huge deal for just one chip-sized cooler in a house (after all, people still buy the Ionic Breeze, which is much larger), but in a whole ton of racked servers in a closed room it could pretty easily exceed indoor air quality guidelines. Just another thing to endanger the health of server nerds. :)
        • I'm curious as to why it's still called a "fan," considering the prime element that makes a fan an actual fan would be the spinning blades that move the air. Wouldn't this just be more of a "cooling device?"

        • I'm more concerned about ESD. (Score:5, Informative)

          by Ungrounded Lightning (62228) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @09:26PM (#22802934) Journal
          Will this produce the same ozone (O3) emissions that the Ionic breeze does?

          Yes.

          And if nothing is done to react it back harmlessly the ozone will corrode downwind metals and degrade downwind plastics.

          But I'm more concerned about the leftover ions that are carried past the plates. Those can accumulate very high charges (even beyond the voltage used to create the ions) on downstream surfaces. This could destroy semiconductors (if they carry more power when arcing over than the ESD protection can handle) as well as corrupt data (through direct signal injection, capacitive coupling of surges, and mini-EMPs).

          • Re:I'm more concerned about ESD. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Hao Wu (652581) on Thursday March 20 2008, @01:24AM (#22804018) Homepage
            1) Move production to a country where those issues get ignored.

            2) Blame that country when customers complain of poor quality and health risks.

            3) Hire lawyers, lobby congress, and profit.

          • Re:I'm more concerned about ESD. (Score:5, Funny)

            by Alsee (515537) on Thursday March 20 2008, @03:10AM (#22804372) Homepage
            mini-EMPs

            I'm suddenly having visions of two anthill armies going to war and launching little tiny tac-nukes at each other.

            -
            • Ah, a literal atomic weapon!

              Anthill one: We have one atom of Weapons-grade uranium, and we know how to use it!

              Anthill two: We have three atoms and we're not afraid to use them!

              Anti-nuke protest ants: You must dismantle your weapons! No nukes in the back yard! The walking mountains and the walking forests already have weapons and sprays! Bite them, not each other!

              Anthill three, which never admitted it also had Uranium atoms Ok. We'll dismantle our weapon. *BOOM go the protest ants* Who's next?

          • Think positively (Score:5, Funny)

            by Moraelin (679338) on Thursday March 20 2008, @04:40AM (#22804652) Journal
            Well, think positively: finally it'll be possible to have a nVidia north-bridge that does't have the equivalent of a fighter jet fan to cool it. (Or at least sounds like it's going to take off and smash into the mandatory case window.)

            Ok, so it might build up static and fry the CPU. Big deal. If you bought one of those babies just to run 6-way SLI (3 slot x 2 GPU per 9800GX2 card), you don't want to hang on to one CPU for too long anyway. The CPU is the bottleneck in that setup, and is keeping your preciouss 3DMark score low. If you don't upgrade it immediately when a higher frequency becomes available, and post your new 3DMark scores immediately, your willy-waving rights might be at stake. Worse yet, people might start thinking you're a girl! ;)

            So just think of the static buildup as a gentle reminder to upgrade ASAP.

            Plus, ok, so you already have every colour of led fan, near UV tubes, glowing SATA cables, and glowing dye in the water-cooling water. Big deal. Every cool kid has those nowadays. Just having a good look at the innards of a computer which looks like a terror attack at a clown makeup factory, only gets you so much willy-waving rights nowadays. So where do you go from there? A few electric sparks and a nice St. Elmo's fire [wikipedia.org] discharge around the PSU and HDD connectors might just add that extra touch.

            Everyone will be in awe of that computer at the next LAN party. If they move their stuff away from you and inquire politely about a fire extinguisher, it's just a sign that they're humbled by your greatness and know that their lame-ass girlie rig would look like loser-gear next to yours ;)

            Plus, there's probably some paint around that glows when hit by those ions. Like that stuff they put in fluorescent lights. Imagine having a bad-ass glowing logo on your case's window. Now that would proclaim you as "T3H UB3R-L33T H4XXX0R". I mean, it's simply hardcore ;)

            Sure, you might lose the contents of that HDD now and then, but it's not too bad. Windows fills with crud anyway, and eventually it might affect those preciouss 3DMark scores. A reformat now and then will do the sucker a world of good.

          • Re:I'm more concerned about ESD. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by jabuzz (182671) on Thursday March 20 2008, @04:52AM (#22804682) Homepage
            Also their claims of silent are bogus. Simple fact is the much of the noise from fans comes from the noise as the air blows over the heatsink etc. and not from the fan itself. As this design still has air being blown over heatsinks it will make noise.

        • Re:Make me read the article... (Score:5, Interesting)

          by bluefoxlucid (723572) on Wednesday March 19 2008, @10:28PM (#22803284) Journal
          There is an alloy that catalyzes 2O3 into 3O2. It has been proposed (by the company that makes it and has the patent) to mandate it for radiator grills in cars to remove ground-level smog. An excellent idea, but also a really tight-fist business move; then again, a 14 year patent on this is just what patents are for; it'll take 5-10 years to really get the ball rolling on sales with this to make some money, then the last few to recover cost, then they can stop squeezing the industry's balls and everyone makes their own.
      • Curious, if anyone here knows, is "air" the only possible/practical working fluid for something like this? Could it be immersed in some sort of liquid solution to produce a similar "flow" effect without the need for a pump to use liquid cooling, or stray Ozone?
      • This is an atrocity! First they silence the CPU fans, then what? What about their civil rights? These people have a right to be excited about their CPUs dangit! I condemn these acts.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Sepiraph (1162995)
      Because this way it gives you more information on both size and efficency factors and a better idea than simply saying 12 times as strong (some information is lost).
    • Because it's more informative to say the way they did? The queen mary 2 has an awesome cooling source (the ocean) making it thousands of times more efficient than a fan, but I'm not bolting the EQ2 to my cpu.
      • I think you mean "effective", not "efficient". Using the QM2 to cool your CPU would be incredibly inefficient.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Sunthalazar (69878)
      Also, if you are saying "efficient", in my mind that means Cooling per Watt, which they *didn't* mention.

      I was very curious to know how many Watts it would take to cool a 25W microchip. If it is taking 50W whereas a fan would take 10mW.

      I believe that Peltier's suffer from this. They are nice fanless systems that can cool below ambient temperature. But it takes more that 1 W per 1 W of cooling.

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