Awesome new air cooler technology

[smoth]

while running vertically would probably results in a slightly larger gap, I don't think it should present any inherit safety concerns. The impeller is held on by a magnetic field. I wouldn't try to change the orientation once the thing is spinning, but I don't see it being any more concerning than any other fan design. It would require some exhaust system, but with the decreased impedance due to the lack of a large heatsink, that shouldn't be a problem. Interesting tech...hope to see it in some commercial application soon.

 

[JigPu]

I did read the cages part... It still doesn't compute in my head though... They say the impeller will be made of a metal highly permeable to magnetism. Aluminum is not highly permeable to magnetism; so how are they getting this done?

You're confusing your parts Its the motor, not the impeller that supposedly responsible for this. The motor's rotor (the part attached to the impeller) has permanent magnets in it which are supposed to be attracted to the highly-permeable stator (the part attached to the base).

And for a bit of "worst case scenario"...
Let's say they do get a working unit with protective cage and all.
Let's say the impeller is about one pound in mass (A Thermalright Venomous X is 755gm or about 1.7 lbs).

I haven't done any physics since HS (over 20 years ago), but I think if an object with mass of 1lb, spinning at 2000 rpm were to come lose... No cage would be able to keep it from just shredding the cage - and itself - to pieces.

Nor does a fan shroud or grill keep a broken fan blade from shredding things to pieces. The point is to keep foreign objects out of the moving parts, not to contain the energy of a catastrophic failure.

I know I sound like a "nay sayer" here, but stuff like this.. Just seems to add another "failure point" to a system that already has enough of them. The way I look at it; if the fan on my heatsink fails... Worst thing that happens is that temperatures rise and the CPU reaches the temperature that triggers a "self shutdown".

Whereas; if this new model happens to fail at the magnetic lock between heatplate and impeller (Murphy's law says that if something can go wrong; it will eventually go wrong); it won't just be a temperature shutdown; it will be pieces of metal raining down on every component inside your case.

You aren't being fair to the worst failure mode of a CPU fan. I've seen a fan blade break, and I'd guess it'd ruin your day pretty quick if it few in the wrong direction.

That said, you're still absolutely correct. The increased mass will only make a failure more catastrophic, and I'd guarantee your day would be ruined (instead of only possibly ruined with a broken fan blade).

JigPu

 

[inVain]

so basically, this thing is a fan with metal blade.
am I right?

so what's so awesome about this thing?
all I can see that heat will be dissipated to the fan's frame only

 

[SupaMonkey]

How hard is it to make a heatsink? I am engineer and i teach university fluid mechanics (but, not thermofluids), i reckon i could beat a lot of the current designs.

The problem with this tech is that this are no heatpipes. Heat pipes are so bloody good that i can't see how this can be better. I like the idea, but ultimately you are using air to transfer heat. The volumetric heat capacity of water (volume because we are talking about contact areas afterall) is 4ish and the volumetric heat capacity of air is 0.0012. If they fill that gap with high surface tension oil (so that is doesn't leak when vertical) and use a very thin gap then they may be able to overcome this limitation.

He is right about the small space between the fins though. I don't know why most air coolers don't use thinner fins spaced very finely.