Say Goodbye To Your CPU Air Coolers

[John P. Myers]

Breakthrough Cooler

[Mike029]

Can't wait to see the reviews..

[Fire$torm]

Really awesome tech. Thanks for sharing.

Now if they act like greedy money grubbers it will be some time before units drop to a price that is affordable. Which is the main reason tech like Sony's Betamax, HD-DVD and other over priced hardware died off.

Just have to wait and see.

[Crazybob's Son]

So basically the heat exchanger is built into the fan assembly reducing the amount of space between the heat and fan... I can see all kinds of issues w/this design.

First, if the heat exchanger gets too hot "oops, melted plastic all over your PC components"

Second, how is dust supposed to escape the impeller blades since the bottom looks to be completely enclosed?

Third, how is this supposed to connect to the item that it is cooling? I don't see any brackets tied to it.

[Fire$torm]

So basically the heat exchanger is built into the fan assembly reducing the amount of space between the heat and fan... I can see all kinds of issues w/this design.

First, if the heat exchanger gets too hot "oops, melted plastic all over your PC components"

Second, how is dust supposed to escape the impeller blades since the bottom looks to be completely enclosed?

Third, how is this supposed to connect to the item that it is cooling? I don't see any brackets tied to it.

The cooler in the pic is a prototype or Proof of Concept. The article stated that Sandia Industries is looking at ways to bring it to market.

......and lab officials are now seeking licensees in the electronics chip cooling field to license and commercialize the device.

[rgathright]

I am very worried about the weight of the rotating metal mass putting stress on the electric motor.

[John P. Myers]

Also the impeller is metal, not plastic, since plastic doesn't make a very good heatsink It basically works by centrifugal force. Air is flung out from around the edge of it with enough force (this thing spins at several thousand RPM and is still quieter than a fan), so dust doesn't have the ability to cling to it. With the current prototype, it hovers over the CPU on a cushion of air about .03 inches thick, similar to the way the puck on an air hockey table hovers on a cushion of air. When they work on more tweaking, they should get this distance reduced to make it even more efficient.