fanless heatsink...finally some quiet mining?

[trouserless]

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/89710-the-fanless-spinning-heatsink-the-heatsink-is-the-fan

Looks like the big brains at Sandia National labs have come up with a new heatsink that actually rotates as it heats up on an "air bearing" spinning a sort of metal impeller that draws cool air in and expels hot air.  Too bad it looks like it only operates on an horizontal surface.

[pdawg]

Pure awesomeness.....

[tosku]

Almost a year later, I find this article: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/131656-the-fanless-heatsink-silent-dust-immune-and-almost-ready-for-prime-time

The idea sure looks cool on video, but I wonder how much a CPU cooler like this would cost.

[Koooooj]

I saw something like this on Tom's Hardward a few days ago! I wonder when it'll be available to purchase

Just one more reason I want to work at Sandia!

[gamebak]

impresive heatsink, but it seems a little big don't you agree ?

[silentseawolf]

Rule 4: there is no such thing as a heat sink that is too big, especially on a custom rig.

you have too look at it in terms of potential, not practical.  and by the look of it, there it LOTS of potential there, lol.

[tosku]

Do you think this thing has to be positioned horizontally? It looks in the video like the fan & heat sink part would fall of if you tilted it.

[silentseawolf]

naa, it would be impossible to sell a product where you could only mount it on a horizontal plane.  the motor shaft looks like it would hold it on, and when its running it floats on air, so that would not be a problem of orientation.

[Fiyasko]

naa, it would be impossible to sell a product where you could only mount it on a horizontal plane.  the motor shaft looks like it would hold it on, and when its running it floats on air, so that would not be a problem of orientation.

LOL YES IT WOULD BE A PROBLEM!

Gavity is everything!

[nedbert9]

very cool stuff.  What about uses in heat exchangers?

Let's say, what is the possible impact to AC units with fixed radiators?

[RDWHAHB]

naa, it would be impossible to sell a product where you could only mount it on a horizontal plane.  the motor shaft looks like it would hold it on, and when its running it floats on air, so that would not be a problem of orientation.

LOL YES IT WOULD BE A PROBLEM!

Gavity is everything!

well harddrives use an airbearing to allow the arm (head?) to float over the spinning platter at a ridiculously small distance, and I don't believe there is any active control to adjust downward force to correct for a change in orientation.

The air bearing upward force is balanced by a downward magnetic force. As long as these "springs" are very stiff relative to the weight of the impeller, it shouldn't be an issue.

[Fiyasko]

Yeah... IF the springs are relativly stiff, But at the same time, if you put the impeller on it's side, Wouldnt you spilt the overall durability in half by putting majority of the weight down onto lets say 3/6 springs?

HDD's are different, The arm is a very solidly connected peice, And yes, It does use an air bearing to stay in the correct place, However, a HDD "disc" is firmly held in place and is Much Much lighter than these proposed impellers..

Where as with these impellers it would seem that simply adding a little bit more weight could make it grind along the bottom of it's rotary platform, I could be totally incorrect tho, But my main point is that the impellers weight is going to be Poorly heldup if just connected straight to the motor (like they show in the demo)

Thoughts?

[RDWHAHB]

I said springs in quotes because there's no springs.

Relevant info from Q&A with the inventor:

Q: Does the air bearing heat exchanger only work in a horizontal orientation? Or are other angles possible?

    JK: As discussed in the white paper, a downward restoring force many times that of the gravitational force acting on the mass of the heat-sink-impeller is generated by attractive interaction of the permanent magnet rotor and the high magnetic permeability stator. For this reason the device can operate in any orientation and the air gap varies little as a function of orientation angle.

[bighecks]

I might want to get one of these my computer gets to much dust

[auctioneeeeer]

Sign me up for these

[CoinLab]

Almost a year later, I find this article: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/131656-the-fanless-heatsink-silent-dust-immune-and-almost-ready-for-prime-time

The idea sure looks cool on video, but I wonder how much a CPU cooler like this would cost.

Cool video!  I'd love to have these in my home gaming rig.

[Fiyasko]

I said springs in quotes because there's no springs.

Relevant info from Q&A with the inventor:

Q: Does the air bearing heat exchanger only work in a horizontal orientation? Or are other angles possible?

    JK: As discussed in the white paper, a downward restoring force many times that of the gravitational force acting on the mass of the heat-sink-impeller is generated by attractive interaction of the permanent magnet rotor and the high magnetic permeability stator. For this reason the device can operate in any orientation and the air gap varies little as a function of orientation angle.

*bows* I goodsir have been Served, And i verymuch enjoyed my food!, Thankyou!

[tjb0607]

Well the heatsink would obviously be considerably heavier than a fan, so it would take some more power. Probably not too much, but still a thing to put into consideration.

[phantitox]

do not think it necessarily big as seen in the video, if it is much more efficient as say that the current coolers, in theory the end product should be much smaller.

[tosku]

Well the heatsink would obviously be considerably heavier than a fan, so it would take some more power. Probably not too much, but still a thing to put into consideration.

Newton's second law of motion:

The acceleration a of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force F acting on the body, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass m of the body, i.e., F = ma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_laws_of_motion

The heavier heatsink would only require more force to spin when it's accelerating. Once it's spinning at top speed, the weight is not of significant importance.