GETTING CARRIED AWAY Ionized air molecules move from one electrode to the others, carrying with them a steady flow of warm air, much like a running brook carries leaves downstream.
Image: © TESSERA, INC.
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Anyone who has worked on a laptop resting on their thighs for more than a few minutes has probably wondered whether there is a better way to keep it from overheating than with tiny internal fans. (The bad news: the problem will be aggravated as faster, and thereby hotter processors are crammed into ever-shrinking electronics.)
The answer may lie in electro-hydrodynamic cooling, a technique where the air inside electronic devices is electrically charged so that heat disperses more efficiently.
Both academic and commercial researchers are pursuing technology that enables electro-hydrodynamic cooling, which uses an electrode to create a high-intensity electrical field that ionizes (electrically charges) the air molecules around it in tandem with a second set of electrodes to attract those charged particles. As the ionized air molecules move from one electrode to the others, they carry with them a steady flow of air, much like a running brook carries leaves downstream.
This may pave the way to quieter, lighter, smaller laptops, for example, that can utilize the latest microprocessors, which are superfast but also generate more heat than their predecessors, says Alex Mamishev, a professor of electrical and mechanical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle who has since 1999 been developing an electrostatic fluid accelerator (EFA) that can provide fan-free cooling.
Mamishev's EFA technology has been tested by tech firm Tessera, Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "In the lab we've been able to show that we can remove the same amount of heat [as a fan does] using half as much power," says Craig Mitchell, senior vice president of Tessera's Interconnect, Components and Materials division. He says the company could by the beginning of next year start building prototype products that use the technology—which Tessera plans to dub Silent Air Cooling Technology (ACT)—although the company still has to work out some kinks, such as how to mass produce it.
Electronics typically include a metal heat sink that collects heat generated by the operation of the device and a mechanical fan to blow hot air out through a vent. Tessera envisions Silent ACT as being both a heat sink and a way to dissipate heat. Mitchell says that Silent ACT could eventually also be used to cool computer servers, video game consoles, projectors and other devices.
There are still many questions about the technology, Mamishev says. An initial concern was that devices using an EFA might produce excessive ozone, a compound that if inhaled can damage a person's respiratory system. This is a problem that retailer The Sharper Image ran into with its Ionic Breeze Quadra Silent Air Purifier, which Consumer Reports in 2003 claimed released potentially unhealthy levels of ozone. Sharper Image sued Consumer Reports for libel that year, but the case was dismissed in 2005. The negative publicity, combined with lagging sales of its high-end electronics, led the company to file for bankruptcy last year. (The company still sells some of its products through other retailers.)
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12 Comments
Add CommentWhy are Intel, IBM, et al not looking into reversible computing on a larger scale? This would obviate the immediate need for cooling technologies. Would chip design need to be so radically altered that such technology is not a readily feasible evolution in chip design?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"uses an electrode to create a high-intensity electrical field", Do I want this device close to my computers electronics? Is there a possibility that a high-intensity electrical field might corrupt the processing of data?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would think better design of the internals and externals would cause better heat transfer to the enviroment without the need for more energy parasites.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHappy Phil points up the first thing that came to my mind, that high-intensity electrical fields are death to modern electronics. Even very small ones will damage intergrated circuits.
I was going to say the same thing. I seem to remember that those air ionizers are HORRIBLE on electronics and this wouldn't be any different.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy is this called "electro-hydrodynamic " ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHydrodynamics relates to movement of LIQUIDS.
Is the air being cooled to a liquid?
NEW FLASH: I no longer buy new laptops. The industry can't cool what they already have, I've lost two laptops to heat, and they think I'm going to keep wasting my money???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDesign principles 101: Heat rises. Why do laptop manufacturers continue to put the fans and air-vents UNDERNEATH?
Manufacturing principle: planned obsolescence.
Hmmm. Probably just coincidence. I'm sure laptop makers would never dream of forcing us to buy a new laptop every year or two by this type of antiquated and environmentally flawed thinking.
Now that we are on the subject are there any medical side effects from all the heat, and any electric fields created by the present laptops while sitting in our laps. Will this proposed electric field have a detrrimetal effect not just on our genes(pun intended) but also on battery life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDrafter, excellent question, something I wonder about often. Genetic change via radiation of EM fields seems a realistic possibility, or even ED for men.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscandide; the usage is 'fluid dynamics',or electro-fluid dynamics and not hydro dynamics. Hydro is about liquid pressure behavior. fluid is about the manner of flow of gasses and liquids. Reporters often do not understand the terms that they use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfter your posting I had to go back and reread (speed reading tends to over look such errors) and found the proper terms used in the fourth paragraph"an electrostatic fluid accelerator (EFA)"
At least this thing would make your lap top a better dust collector.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust what the world needs, a $1000 lap dust collector.
I think I'd rather have a cat in the lap.
Referencing Moore's law as a reason to improve laptop cooling was a bad move. Or don't these people know that the law has a brick wall called the limit of atomic density? We're almost at it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs it possible to charge using solar energy with high efficiency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this