fan-free cooling: Ionic Breeze

yboris · Post by **yboris** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:37 am

Do you think this is a feasible solution to a now decades old problem of cooling PC's with fans?

"Ionic Breeze" is said to create current through air without any fans. Surely the speed of air moving with fans is faster, but is noisier! This of course could only be a substitute for low-end PC's and in conjunction with passive cooling heatsinks.

Perhaps there is a way to modify the Ionic Breeze so that it moves air faster? Or adopt the technology and use it instead of a fan and not so much as for "cleaning" ?

wisefool · Post by **wisefool** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:43 am

My ionic cleaners (the big ones, first generation from Sharper Image) made rattling weird noises. The filaments vibrate and do some weird things, as if you were shaking a pan full of gravel.

Ionizing air is basically putting a charge on the air, and having the air move towards an oppositively-charged component?

What sort of charge is in this rod. Will i get shocked when I touch it? Second, would it create any sort of interference with other components? Third, how much power (and thus heat) is actually created by this filter?

DryFire · Post by **DryFire** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:08 am

I have 2 ionic breeze's in the house. The don't make any noise unless their dirty (the small bathroom one's are a different story).

However open electric frields so close to my computer components may cause a problem unless you sheild them properly. I don't know how strong the ionic breeze is or how strong it would have to be to create adequate air flow.

Post by **Rusty075** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:51 am

The PQ curve of these things must be incredibly wimpy. Probably essentially a vertical line. That is, even a small amount of backpressure will drop the airflow to zero.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:48 pm

There are so many reasons not to use the Ionic Breeze for cooling.

One is that it electrically charges the air. Putting computer components near is is a bad idea.

Also, Ionic Breeze does not really filter the air. It puts out ozone which can kill bacteria, but mostly gives you that "outdoor" smell. But that smell is actually pollution. Ozone is harmful, and even though SHarper Image claims otherwise, the Ionic Breeze when used in a smaller room all the time, can accumulate too much ozone.

Do a google search about Ionic Breeze's problems. Most of them have to do with their build quality, though.

-Ed