Cool breeze

US researchers have demonstrated a new technology using tiny 'ionic wind engines' that might improve computer chip cooling.

The Purdue University researchers, in work funded by Intel, have shown that the technology increased the ‘heat-transfer coefficient,’ which describes the cooling rate of the chips, by as much as 250 percent.

'Other experimental cooling-enhancement approaches might give you a 40 percent or a 50 percent improvement,' said Suresh Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue. 'A 250 percent improvement is quite unusual.'

The experimental cooling device, contained a positively charged wire, or anode, and negatively charged electrodes, called cathodes. The anode was positioned about 10 millimetres above the cathodes. When a current was passed through the device, the negatively charged electrodes discharged electrons toward the positively charged anode. Along the way, the electrons collided with air molecules, producing positively charged ions, which were then attracted back toward the negatively charged electrodes, creating an 'ionic wind.' This breeze increased the airflow on the surface of the chip.