Electronics uses Victorian design
Electronics uses Victorian design
2008-04-16Newsfeed
A Victorian design is being used in an innovative new method to cool micro-electronics.
A Victorian design is being used in an innovative new method to cool micro-electronics.
The system involves pistons pumping gas inside chillers the size of sugar cubes to provide a smaller and quicker way to cool down circuitry.
The Victorian design could be used to quickly chill sensors in infrared cameras and security scanners down to just 80 kelvin.
The new coolers are a miniaturised version of a 19th century invention called a Stirling cooler, which exploits the fact that when expanding gas cools down it dissipates heat.
But the approach so far lacks the cooling power needed to tame the biggest heat emitters like computer chips, researchers say.
Conventional Stirling coolers have limited use on spacecraft and drilling equipment because they operate at only 60 Hz and take a relatively long time to cool things down.
Pumping at a much greater rate has made it possible for the cooler to be much smaller and more powerful than previous devices, said Srinivas Vanapalli, of the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, who developed the new prototypes
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
