'Ion' fans help cool computer chips

Experts from Purdue University (Indiana, USA) and chip maker Intel have teamed up to successfully develop a device model capable of creating a " wind flow " of electrostatic particles, also known as ions. , to cool computer chips.

Scientists believe that this "ion" wind will help cool the heat flow in computing devices that are becoming smaller and stronger.

As the performance of computers is increasing, the number of transistors packed in microprocessors in the machine is even bigger and when they work, the heat they emit is increasingly higher.

(Photo: Infoworld) Mr. Timothy Fisher, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University and an author of the study, said: 'In computers and electronic devices, efficiency is equivalent to The amount of heat generated, so we need to find ways to manage the amount of heat emitted in laptops and handhelds that are getting stronger '.

Traditional cooling technologies that use fans are limited because they may encounter airflow problems. When the propeller blows air through a chip, the molecules closest to the chip can get stuck and remain in place, hindering cooling performance.

But the newly invented ' ion ' fan device uses a different tactic. This fan model works by changing electrostatic elements from one end of the device to the other. When a voltage is applied to an ion motor, positively charged ions are created, and they are pulled towards a negatively charged wire (a cathode), forcing the air flow.

When they used the engine in conjunction with a traditional fan, scientists found that air molecules, instead of being stuck, were pulled across the chip surface and helped to increase cooling capacity.

The team said their device has increased cooling efficiency by up to 250% compared to a conventional chip fan. Professor Suresh Garimella, a co-author of the study, said: 'Experiments using other cooling enhancement methods can only increase cooling efficiency from 40% to 50%. But the 250% increase is amazing. '

Now scientists are trying to shrink their engine model to reduce its size to about 100 times, only a few millimeters large. Prof. Garimella said that this is very important to be able to put this technology into use in today's most advanced electronic devices and computers.

If the miniaturization is successful, scientists hope that devices that use their cooling technology will be able to appear within the next three years.