- Friday, 27 November 2009
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I am the mother of your children. Whither can I fly, since all Greece hates the barbarian? - Euripides, Microsoft Medea Center
Chips cooled with noise
LIQUID COOLING of computer chips and other heat intensive technology can be boosted by blasting sound waves at the coolant.
The New Scientist reports that researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with sound enhanced liquid cooling.
Liquid coolants are being explored as an alternative to fans and heat sinks as processing power increases and becomes more heat intensive. Liquids are most efficient for heat transfer when allowed to boil away excess energy but this can lead to the formation of bubbles which act as insulation thus negating the effect.
But Ari Glezer and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology have been working on the problem and have come up with a new way to get rid of the bubbles. By placing a speaker a few millimetres from the origin of the heat - in this case a chip - with cool liquid in between and hitting it with sounds near 1 kilohertz they could get rid of 147 per cent more heat.
The approach which Glezer describes as “elegant” is being touted as a possible answer to heat build up in everything from chips to hybrid vehicles and spacecraft. µ
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How well does this interact with other sound (like playing mp3s on your computer, or a nearby radio, is that going to disrupt the cooling effect?), and how loud is it in general (is the sound of whirring fans going to be replaced by loud throbbing noises)?

I'm sure they've thought of everything which might happen in a lab environment, but they have to transfer it to a normal workplace (maybe just the server rooms) (if not home environment).
I'm no scientist of sound, but just how low is 1 Khz? I'm guessing its inaudible, or else this just wouldn't be practical, but is this something my dog would flip out over? I'm also guessing he won't truly appreciate a massively overclocked quadcore, and neither will I, if he just won't stop barking and chill out.
B5 987.77 Hz or C6 1046.50 Hz


Please pick one frequency or the other ... have mercy on those of us who have a sense of pitch or are musicians.

I suffered for 6 years tuning audio circuits for RF equipment .... no more !!



Duh. simple application of heat transfer principles, known to almost every chemical engineer out there, but obviously to nobody else.

Sound waves create minute movement of fluid. Movement of fluid increases heat transfer. Duh. It works better because unlike bulk fluid movement past a heatsink, these pressure waves operate at a smaller scale, more heat transfer area, better heat transfer.

Chemical engineers have known for some time that using ultrasound can improve heat and mass transfer rates, but it is usually so inefficient, cost-wise, it's not worth the bother, except for certain high-value products.

Everything works better in the lab, but very few of these concepts are commercially viable.
Would this consider the resonating frequencies of surrounding objects?
Think of your last hearing test, with a somewhat high-pitched tone.

Very annoying!
if anything additional noise could improve this effect, although on a minute scale. the it doesn't say how loud the speaker is but i guess its pretty loud (submerged?)
it probably just rattles the bubbles off the heat sink.
when Prescott speaks to Conroe in Clovertown, can anyone hear it?
They figured out that bubbles were causing the problem, I'll give them credit for that; and implemented the most trivial solution for removing bubbles - a sonicator.

Let's see them try to patent this one.
Next time my PC overheats, I'm just going to keep yelling at it until it cools off...
First, to answer wumberpeb, humans can hear 20Hz - 20,000Hz (20kHz), so yes, it is audible.

Second, water cooling enthusiasts have known that turbulence makes a substantial difference in heat dissipation (often sacrificing surface area and flow rate for it.) Cathar was the first one (AFAIK) to incorporate it into his blocks with the Cascade (and predecessors), and the idea is now pretty well regarded. 

Just funny that no one at XS thought of this.

So, does this mean we have to watch what noises are going on around us when testing new blocks? 
Oh boy. Time for some headphones....
" (I'm no scientist of sound, but just how low is 1 Khz? I'm guessing its inaudible) "

People should be able to hear that. If you look at music headphones specifications the most cheap ones have 40 hz to 18 khz while more expensive ones feature 20 hz to 22 Khz, for example. That means that 1 Khz its right in the middle!
OMG.... please ask yourself, why you need water cooling in the first place?

You want a quiet cooling mechanism. Before you argue, please realize that air cooling can be as good as water cooling, you just need a bigger heat ink and a MUCH bigger / noiser fan.

Now you added back the noise to make it "more efficient"??? com'on....

Seem it is the worst invention after the sonar-powered torch.

sorry I mean Solar not sonar
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/download/audtest.htm

As for frequency ranges, 3Hz can be heard through the body, younger people can hear 24kHz, and we can sense some effect from sound as high as 45kHz.
http://www.george.shilling.com/Reviews/dePara.htm