MIT Develops a Cooling Technology of the Future

[jwl3]

It's so true the saying "1% of the world invents things that the other 99% use." Most of us go through life not contributing or improving a single thing on earth.

 

[zipz0p]

[citation][nom]requiemsallure[/nom]doesn't this really mean, that if we can conduct heat in certain ways with plastics that we will be able to move or 'conduct' electrons in the same way someday? an interesting thought. plastic computers!!!! no more ESD!!! although i suppose this is still far off. but it makes you think... fundamentally it's beginning to look possible.[/citation]

I doubt this. Thermal conductivity can be mediated by phonons (yes, I know that momentum is not a good quantum number in non-crystalline materials, but you get the idea) in addition to electrons, while electrical conductivity is limited to electron transport. I will have to read the MIT paper to see what mechanism they claim for enhancement of thermal conductivity.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]JWL3[/nom]It's so true the saying "1% of the world invents things that the other 99% use." Most of us go through life not contributing or improving a single thing on earth.[/citation]
I just invented the pepperoni garlic 5 cheese loaf.
I used some pepperoni I had and a 5 cheese garlic bread I had in my freezer.
Yay, I'm not useless!
But I do contribute, my job is important yo.

I'm curious on cost and weight myself. Anyone want a totally pimp watercooling loop with a plastic waterblock and a plastic radiator for $100 instead of $500?

 

[hajila]

Just because it's a cheap material, polyethylene, doesn't mean it will be cheap to produce. The process of lining up the molecular bonds can be extremely expensive at any scale. The same process has hindered carbon nano tubes from playing a more active role in consumer products.

 

[gh0st]

How cheap is Polyethylene?Over Copper? grapes to watermelon comparison...Should be beneficial to hobbyist and the avg consumer

 

[lordcrazex]

[citation][nom]sheath[/nom]Its polyethylene, it cant be that expensive.[/citation]

well who knows... Intel IS showing its interest... chances are they might try to monopolize it and modify it into costing an arm and a leg... well, just an opinion...

 

[adaman2576]

I remember a while back reading an article about a platic engine block for a car. This stuff was engineered for strength and now we can engineer plastic to disipate heat. Sounds like plastic is the material of the future.

 

[Guest]

Yup, we all love plastic, pity we are burning all the oil we need for plastics!!!

 

[si7entsam]

[citation][nom]shadow187[/nom]But how cheap is it to produce in mass-quantities?[/citation]
Well, considering we use a ton of it in our everyday lives (tupperwear for example) it is probably very cheap to manufacture.
This could be revolutionary to the mobile market, anything to help cool more powerful mobile chips the better I say. With Intel investing I hope this technology takes off =D

 

[si7entsam]

[citation][nom]hajila[/nom]Just because it's a cheap material, polyethylene, doesn't mean it will be cheap to produce. The process of lining up the molecular bonds can be extremely expensive at any scale. The same process has hindered carbon nano tubes from playing a more active role in consumer products.[/citation]
So basically to avoid high costs they just need to come up with an efficient way to manufacture and mass produce it, correct? That's where most ideas like these do fail, because they are theoretically great ideas but just aren't practical to make.

 

[jfem]

Wow!

 

[daggs]

[citation][nom]sheath[/nom]Its polyethylene, it cant be that expensive.[/citation]
that's not exactly right, I have no information about the procedure but the actual transformation of normal polyethylene into heat conducting polyethylene might be expensive.

 

[xtc28]

ALL SPECULATION! At least for now. Sorry!!!

 

[drip50291]

But does it cool better than ice cubes?

 

[audioee]

I remember a MacGyver episode where Mac was working with a couple of people that were building and testing a camaro or firebird with a plastic engine. During a test race the competing team tried to sabotage the plastic engine by creating an oil leak or something to get the engine to cease.

 

[requiemsallure]

I doubt this. Thermal conductivity can be mediated by phonons (yes, I know that momentum is not a good quantum number in non-crystalline materials, but you get the idea) in addition to electrons, while electrical conductivity is limited to electron transport. I will have to read the MIT paper to see what mechanism they claim for enhancement of thermal conductivity.

however, if they can even get thermal conductivity to work in such a way, just on the basis of making plastic conductive to heat in such a way ensures a specific path in the right direction towards electron conduction through plastic. I know its not the same thing, nor do i know the exact specifics about it, but the way that they conduct heat in only one direction is the main reason why i believe it is possible, getting strands of this plastic to line up in the same way a circuit would (after of course ajusting the molecular structure once again for electron transport) enable a plastic circuit board.

sounds about right? in addition i just realized that since it is plastic you would still have ESD problems, however they would be different, instead of being destructive it would be interfearance with the signals. to midigate this you could put a layer of normal plastic over the conductive circuits, effectively isolating them from the ESD. this is of course only theory, however it sounds about right.

another thought however is that you might have to have a cooler for the mainboard in this case. as this is all speculative and theory, i cannot be sure on any of this but it is possible, though future tech.

 

[wotan31]

Smart guy to invent such a thing. Now maybe he can figure out a way to make Windows not suck?

 

[elbert]

Heat plus plastic isn't good. There is a know increased risk of cancer in the making of plastics due to heat. I hope the use here of transferring heat away from a cpu isn't enough to cause such a health risk.

 

[Guest]

"Just because it's a cheap material, polyethylene, doesn't mean it will be cheap to produce. The process of lining up the molecular bonds can be extremely expensive at any scale. The same process has hindered carbon nano tubes from playing a more active role in consumer products."

No.

The fact that carbon nanotubes are invisible to the eye, respirable, and carcinogenic has prevented them from playing a more active role in consumer products.

 

[maestintaolius]

[citation][nom]jrharbort[/nom]This has me quite curious. I'm wondering how something like this would perform after long term use. Most common plastics get very brittle and break (or even melt) after being exposed to a heat source for too long.On the plus, it should be cheaper to produce than copper/aluminum based coolers.[/citation]
As long as you don't do anything silly like operate in regions where your material is constantly going back and forth through glass transitions (or other phase changes) plastics are pretty durable. A common reason plastics become brittle (like your garden hose left in the sun) is you've driven off the plasticizers that make it flexible or exposed it to UV. If your use is constantly above the Tg (or below) and shielded from high energy radiation (UV) plastics last very, very long times.

 

[maestintaolius]

[citation][nom]requiemsallure[/nom]however, if they can even get thermal conductivity to work in such a way, just on the basis of making plastic conductive to heat in such a way ensures a specific path in the right direction towards electron conduction through plastic. I know its not the same thing, nor do i know the exact specifics about it, but the way that they conduct heat in only one direction is the main reason why i believe it is possible, getting strands of this plastic to line up in the same way a circuit would (after of course ajusting the molecular structure once again for electron transport) enable a plastic circuit board.sounds about right? in addition i just realized that since it is plastic you would still have ESD problems, however they would be different, instead of being destructive it would be interfearance with the signals. to midigate this you could put a layer of normal plastic over the conductive circuits, effectively isolating them from the ESD. this is of course only theory, however it sounds about right.another thought however is that you might have to have a cooler for the mainboard in this case. as this is all speculative and theory, i cannot be sure on any of this but it is possible, though future tech.[/citation]
It's actually not to difficult to get heat to flow in a direction you want it to. Pyrolitic graphite and boron nitride both have very specific thermal conductivities depending on the orientation of the molecule (they both conduct extremely well along one axis). The pain is getting them aligned and doing it cheaply enough that you can market it to OEMs. Pyrolitic graphite is already aligned... but its also electrically conductive and expensive (generally its used in high end boards -not consumer available- in very tiny regions of high heat concentration).

The interesting thing about this, is basically MIT took the same principle used to create polarizers from unaligned iodine-filled plastic and applied it to making polymers thermally conductive. On the surface it appears like a painfully obvious idea and stuns me we haven't thought of it before. Then again, the basic concepts of relativity seem painfully obvious when you're first exposed to them too.

 

[Guest]

One of the best existing materials for conducting heat but not electricity is carbon, in the form of diamond! It's kind of expensive though

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]anamaniac[/nom]Anyone want a totally pimp watercooling loop with a plastic waterblock and a plastic radiator for $100 instead of $500?[/citation]Radiators require small tubing and lots of thin fins to maximize surface area. This might end up being MORE expensive to make and more fragile than conventional aluminum radiators. I suppose they could simply attempt to make a very non-conventional design. We need the material to be good and cheap, first though, before we consider radiators. One thing at a time.
[citation][nom]adaman2576[/nom]I remember a while back reading an article about a platic engine block for a car. This stuff was engineered for strength and now we can engineer plastic to disipate heat. Sounds like plastic is the material of the future.[/citation]It's the material of today, really. Body armor, cars, electronics, appliances, food packaging... as the old commercials said "Plastics make it possible!".
[citation][nom]Daggs[/nom]that's not exactly right, I have no information about the procedure but the actual transformation of normal polyethylene into heat conducting polyethylene might be expensive.[/citation]Agreed, but even if it turns out to be expensive initially, I hope they can eventually create a process suitable for affordable mass-production.

 

[requiemsallure]

liquid crystalline body armor is better.

 

[Guest]

I wonder if we're ever going to see this become a reality in our lifetime, or if they will throw it on the patent heap for the coming 20 years or so.