Ionic Cooling in the Future

Cooling your computer using a water-based solution is not the best way to do it anymore. A new technology of cooling has appeared. It will increase the cooling abilities of usual fans very much. As computers' powers grow more and more heat is generated by its chips and we need gadgets to deal with that heat. The scientists believe that wind engines that create a "breeze" of charged particles (ions) will be able to keep the chips cool.

After the research the scientists have discovered that airflow cooling fans are not very effective because of the problems in air flow. Even when the fan blows the air to a chip, the nearest molecules to the chip tend to stay at the surface of it, which makes cooling effect much smaller.

The new technology created by the scientists is going a different way by shifting the charged particles from one end of the chip to the other. The experimental wind engine charges up particles and sends them over the chip, they are being attracted to negatively charged wires and this will make the molecules of air to constantly move improving cooling abilities. With introduction of ions in cooling technology there will be no need for water cooled solutions.

Professor Suresh Garimella gave the numbers about the improvement of the cooling abilities on computer chips. Their new gadget will improve cooling powers by 250% which basically means a 2.5 times increase in cooling. I wish I had something like that because my cooler sometimes goes to a 5 thousand RPM and gets really loud. By the way any other enhancements that you can do to your computer will increase cooling power by 40-50% (1.4-1.5 times). Just so you can compare how effective the new technology will be.

The last thing research team needs to do is to shrink their device to the size that can be used in the computers. That means that they have to shrink it a hundred times, and that will be a very big challenge for them. As for the rest of the device it is fully functional and we will have to wait another three years or so until hits the market.

Thermoelectric Generator to Turn Body Heat into Electricity

German researchers are the ones that discovered a new source of energy. Using body heat to power up your favorite gadgets would be a good replacement to battery chargers. But, it is not that powerful yet and for now only small things can run on its energy yet.

The researchers say that they have designed "entire electronic systems" that can be powered by body heat electricity. On the picture they show that a wireless transmitter works on body heat energy and transfers data to the laptop. However, it only needs 200 millivolts to work. So I imagine how weak those systems that they have developed are.

If the size of thermoelectric generator used to convert heat into electricity is small enough it can be built in clothing for example. A man's back surface will generate much more heat than its hand so that would be a pretty good way to use the new source of electricity. It might be enough to power up color changing glasses, or some small things like your watch, only they will stop functioning each time you take them off.

They still have ways to go in order to make our bodies able to power up cell phones, portable video games, and video players.

Digital Camera Growth Doubles

Consumer appetite for digital cameras so far this year has grown twice as fast as expected, as buyers replace older models at cheaper prices, according to research firm IDC.