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Engineers create silent microchip-sized "fan" for laptop cooling system |
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Friday, 11 April 2008 |
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Engineers harnessing the
same physical property that drives silent household air purifiers have created
a miniaturized device that is now ready for testing as a silent, ultra-thin, low-power
and low maintenance cooling system for laptop computers and other electronic
devices.
The compact, solid-state fan, developed with support from NSF's Small Business Innovation Research
program, is the most powerful and energy efficient fan of its size. It produces
three times the flow rate of a typical small mechanical fan and is one-fourth
the size. Dan Schlitz and Vishal Singhal of Thorrn
Micro Technologies recently presented their RSD5 solid-state fan at the
24th Annual Semiconductor Thermal Measurement, Modeling and Management
Symposium (Semi-Therm) in California.
The device is the culmination of six years of research that began while the
researchers were NSF-supported graduate students at Purdue University.
"The RSD5 is one of
the most significant advancements in electronics cooling since heat pipes. It could change
the cooling paradigm for mobile electronics," said Singhal. The RSD5
incorporates a series of live wires that generate a micro-scale plasma (an
ion-rich gas that has free electrons that conduct electricity). The wires lie within un-charged conducting plates
that are contoured into half-cylindrical shape to partially envelop the wires. Within
the intense electric field that results, ions push neutral air molecules from
the wire to the plate, generating a wind. The
new device yields a breeze as swift as 2.4 meters per second,
as compared to airflows of 0.7 to 1.7 meters per second from larger, mechanical
fans, reveals the organizations press release.
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