New Chip-cooling Technology 167
BillOfThePecosKind writes "Researchers have demonstrated a new technology using tiny "ionic wind engines" that might dramatically improve computer chip cooling, possibly addressing a looming threat to future advances in computers and electronics. Purdue researchers funded by Intel have improved the "heat-transfer coefficient" by some 250%. I never liked water cooled systems, and this sounds promising. However I wonder how much ozone one of these things produces."
Re:Ozone production FTW (Score:2, Informative)
ozone (Score:3, Informative)
Didn't we already do this one? (Score:5, Informative)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09
master0ne writes, "We (the folks over at InventGeek) have produced the first ionic cooling system for your high-end gaming system. This system produces absolutely no noise and in fact has no moving parts at all. While this is a proof of concept, it demonstrates that you can get the CFM you need to cool a system efficiently with no moving parts and no increase in power consumption."
From Jan 3, 2007
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01
Iddo Genuth writes to mention The Future of Things online magazine is reporting that Kronos Advanced Technologies in cooperation with Intel and the University of Washington claims to have developed a new type of ultra-thin, silent cooling technology for processors. The piece covers many of the cooling technologies currently available, how their new corona discharge cooler works, and a short interview with several of the key team members.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2148
Below is a link to many of the prototypes I built. I don't have a photo of the ionic version, but it was just the desktop unit with the large aluminum heatsinks with a plastic duct/ shield was added and a set of fine wires was run across the bottom of the large aluminum heat sinks with -6000V DC on it.
The aluminum heat sinks were grounded.
by Jonathan Walther (676089) Alter Relationship on Wednesday January 03, @09:00PM (#17452802)
Back in 2002 when John Sokol was designing the first, and still the most efficient silent computer, we discussed the ionic air cooling. I think it was Bill Drury who first mentioned it. We put it off as a possible future direction to go. It didn't seem like it would be nearly as productive a direction as the thermal ground technology John developed. Time has proven John right; his thermal plane and thermal ground patents will revolutionize the computer industry fairly soon now. As a director of Nisvara, I can't reveal more than that at this time. But if you want a silent computer with no moving parts and even lower power consumption than these "coronal discharge" guys are claiming, get in touch with John Sokol.
Re:Ozone production FTW (Score:2, Informative)
I think you mean it's bad and therefore a pollutant.
Re:ozone (Score:1, Informative)
1. Heat is transferred from processor to "sealed chamber" through a contact (most likely metal) with a good heat transfer capability.
2. Heat is then transferred to the air within the "sealed chamber" to the air current residing within the chamber.
3. Air is replaced with cool air as hot air is transferred out of the case.
This creates a heat pipe of sorts (though water or anti-freeze is replaced with the air, which won't harm electronics and should be quieter, since the system has no moving parts), unlike current cooling systems which simply blow hot air away from the CPU but where it inevitably recycles through the case to some degree.
Re:Ozone production FTW (Score:2, Informative)
Re:ozone (Score:5, Informative)
CFCs and HCFCs (Score:3, Informative)
From the Wikipedia:
"By the year 2010 CFCs should be completely eliminated from developing countries as well."
ESD issue? (Score:3, Informative)
To avoid this the insulating passivation layer will probably have to be topped by an additional conductive layer. This layer, in turn, will increase the capacitive load on the interconnects and likely require additional chip power to switch them.
I expect it will still be a big net improvement. But deploying it won't be trivial.
Re:Only delaying the inevitable (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Ozone production FTW (Score:3, Informative)
several people do eat it on the advise of their doctor. (warfarin [wikipedia.org]). at the proper dosage, it is quite useful for preventing blood clots.
Re:Ozone production FTW (Score:3, Informative)
Re:CFCs and HCFCs (Score:5, Informative)
That's completely idiotic.
The fact that a certain car has a more powerful A/C is because it was designed to be more powerful, NOT because of the refrigerant. No doubt your old Toyota's A/C demands far more power to operate than any of the newer ones you've compared it with.
There is a difference between refrigerants, but it's a very small one, and couldn't REMOTELY account for your magical little story there. In fact, air conditioners have been getting more and more energy efficient over the years, at the same time that refrigerants have been getting less toxic.
Re:Didn't we already do this one? (Score:4, Informative)
Pointing an Ionic Breeze at a heatsink will merely produce the same type of airflow as a fan, only quieter.
Forcing the trapped layer of air at the CPU surface to move should improve the efficiency of the cooling, though a 2 1/2 times improvement seems pretty high - obviously the boundary layer is a significant insulator in this case.
Re:CFCs and HCFCs (Score:3, Informative)
Because at the North and South poles, the atmosphere does not circulate very well with regards to the rest of the planet. You end up with a large Polar vortex [wikipedia.org] of cold air remaining stationary over the area, which allows the CFC to react with other chemicals in the air:
The chemistry of the Antarctic polar vortex has created severe ozone depletion. The nitric acid in polar stratospheric clouds reacts with CFCs to form chlorine, which catalyzes the photochemical destruction of ozone. Chlorine concentrations build up during the winter polar night, and the consequent ozone destruction is greatest when the sunlight returns in spring (September/October). These clouds can only form at temperatures below about -80C, so the warmer Arctic region does not have an ozone hole.
Re:New Technology? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, according to Consumer reports, according to every independant laboratory test, according to even Sharper Image itself...
I'd have to answer "A waste of money and electricy".
Yes, it (slowly) moves air. It just doesn't clean it effectively.