Liquid metal is the solution for cooling your computer
23 May 2005 by Evoluted New Media
A company in Texas has devised a way of using liquid metal to cool computer processors, which may solve the cooling crisis in chip technology
A company in Texas has devised a way of using liquid metal to cool computer processors, which may solve the cooling crisis in chip technology.
NanoCoolers, founded by a former IBM researcher, uses magnetic pumps to circulate a nontoxic liquid metal gallium alloy, which the company claims absorbs and releases heat far more efficiently than water.
The Nanocooler system draws heat away from a circuit by pumping the liquid gallium alloy through a series of pipes. The metal boils at 2000ºC allowing it to cool extremely high temperatures without turning into a gas.
The metal is non-flammable, non-toxic and environmentally friendly. As a metal, the liquid is highly thermally and electrically conductive. The company say that these properties make it ideal for heat removal and allow it to be mobile. The electrical conductivity means the coolant can be pumped silently with an electromagnetic pump
The processing chips in most computers are cooled using fans that generate airflow or solid metal ‘sinks’. As more circuitry is being packed into chips, and circuit dimensions shrink into the nano realm, manufacturers have been struggling to find ways to cool their chips.
