<font size="3">Thunderbolt and lightning, very very... cooling?</font>

Scientists are working on a method to cool down chips that is based on the same principles as an electrical storm

Researchers at Purdue University said Thursday that they have come up with a way to cool computer chips by using the power of electrical storms.

Mechanical engineers at Purdue have filed patents for technologies that eventually could be used to create a device that would cool computer chips by generating lightning and wind on a microscopic level using carbon nanotubes. The patents arose from a research project funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

The researchers have only demonstrated the idea conceptually, but they assert that it could help future computer builders tackle the growing problem of chip generated heat in a more reliable way than they could through liquid cooling.


Michael Kanellos
CNET News.com
March 26, 2004, 13:45 GMT
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