Small scale ionic breeze?

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cAPSLOCK
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Small scale ionic breeze?

Post by cAPSLOCK » Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:58 am

BBC reported on some boffins that have made a miniature ionic-breeze device that goes on a computer chip. Apparently regular airflow doesn't work well because the surface layer of molecules doesn't move... I might have misunderstood, but won't a heatsink+thermal paste work just as well, or better ?? :lol:

Traciatim
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Post by Traciatim » Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:03 am

I was tempted a while back to build a whole case around the ionic breeze theory. I was dissuaded by someone who told me that negative ions will stick to things causing dust build up and possibly damaging sensitive electronic equipment. I'm not sure how based on fact it actually was, but it was from someone I usually trust for advice of this nature.

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:58 am

won't a heatsink+thermal paste work just as well, or better ?? :lol:
no, because as the article pointed out the air molecules right next to the heatsink fins are essentially stationary, impairing heat transfer. the key feature of this device is get the boundary layer moving, improving heat transfer.

cAPSLOCK
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Post by cAPSLOCK » Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:03 pm

jaganath wrote:no, because as the article pointed out the air molecules right next to the heatsink fins are essentially stationary, impairing heat transfer. the key feature of this device is get the boundary layer moving, improving heat transfer.
Yes but here they are talking about using this fancy tech to cool down a bare chip. So bare chip with moving boundary layer vs chip with heatsink that doesn't have a moving boundary layer... I think a similar efficiency can be achieved with a small and much cheaper heatsink.

Now if you're talking about integrating this ionic breeze onto all of the surfaces of the heatsink, that sounds great, but at what cost? and what power consumption?

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:29 am

the first applications for this tech will be in laptops and ultra-mobile devices, where the compact dimensions mean air-cooling doesn't work very well. this will potentially mean silent laptops. current air-cooling techniques provide satisfactory (but not exceptional) cooling already in desktops, at a competitive price. the power consumption is pretty minimal, from what I have read about this tech, less than a conventional fan.

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