Why not design an ASIC that can be used for AC/Cooling?

[tuaris]

It's not impossible, is it? Don't AC's heat up a gas that then goes through condensation?  My understanding is that the phase change of the gas is used for heat transfer.  The purpose of the compressor in current AC's is just to heat up the gas without fire/heat.  It then condenses into a liquid and evaporate it back into a gas. Or am I wrong in my theory?  I must be missing something because it would have already been done.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Yes it could in theory be done. There are A/C systems that run off of propane/natural gas instead of using an electric compressor https://www.gassouth.com/blog/natural-gas-air-conditioners and just as they burn gas to power their cooling cycle, ASIC's could in theory do the same thing.

Main issue I see is that high power electronics do NOT like constant cycling on & off as it stresses the solder connections.

FYI: the compressor does not heat up the gas and then condense it into a liquid. It compresses the gas which under pressure of 150-250psi (depends on the refrigerant) becomes a liquid. The liquid phase is hot because the heat energy stored in the (cool) gas becomes concentrated as the large volume of gas is turned into a much smaller volume of liquid.

[MaxMueller]

Yes it could be done. There are A/C systems that run off of propane/natural gas instead of using an electric compressor https://www.gassouth.com/blog/natural-gas-air-conditioners and just as they burn gas to power their cooling cycle, ASIC's could in theory do the same thing.

Thats apple and pears. You cant compare waste heat from an asic to waste heat at a few hundres degrees.

My answer is no. It seems to be impossible to me as the temperature gradient is to small. Stirling engines failed for decades to gain mechanical power from low temperature waste heat. Imagine a stirling engine powered by waste heat which drives the compressor of a heat pump. Thermal compression is nearly the same, it works if you provide high temperature waste heat, but not with asics.

What you could do is to use an electrical powered heat pump to pump the asic waste heat to highter temperature levels e.g. for hot water, with the benefit of having a two phase immersion cooling for your asic chips.

[dimitrylsm]

Good thought. I’m experimenting in a similar line — routing ASIC coolant through membrane distillation so that the system not only cools but also produces distilled water. With right engineering, an ASIC unit could serve cooling + water generation.