Nicholas Baran
With chips like the Pentium and DEC's Alpha, the power of the mainframe has indeed arrived on the desktop, but you probably didn't expect the mainframe's cooling system to come along for the ride. However, that's exactly what a New Hampshire company is working on: liquid-cooling systems for desktop PCs and even laptops and notebooks. Unlike the fans currently used to cool desktop PCs, the liquid-cooling system doesn't draw any power and can have a lower profile than a metal heat sink.
The liquid-cooling system developed by Aavid Engineering (Laconia, NH) works much like an air conditioner or a refrigerator and uses a refrigerant fluid called Fluorinert. Unlike Dolch's liquid-cooling technique, Aavid does not use a heat sink. Aavid's system consists
of an evaporator, which sits on top of the microprocessor, and a condenser, which can be as small as 6 by 3 inches. The entire system weighs about 75 grams. The fluid in the evaporator draws the heat from the microprocessor and flows to the condenser, where the heat is dissipated.
According to Gary Kuzmin, Aavid's digital product director, the first application of the liquid-cooling system will be in desktop machines, because it will be easy to incorporate the system into existing form factors. Laptop and notebook computers would have to be redesigned to accommodate the cooling system, particularly the condenser. Kuzmin says that the condenser can be built into the back of a laptop's display.
Not all CPUs require this much cooling, however. The PowerPC 603, due this year, will likely offer Pentium performance while drawing just 1 to 1.5 W, compared to the 66-MHz Pentium's 16-W power consumption.
Aavid's goal is to produce cooling units priced at around $20 in high-volume quantities. Look
for computers using the liquid-cooling system to appear in the second quarter.
Illustration: Aavid's liquid-cooling scheme uses Fluorinert, a material that has a boiling point of about 60ūC. Once the Fluorinert reaches its boiling point, it forces open a valve that leads to the condenser. There, the vapor is cooled and returned to the evaporator unit.
Liquid-Cooled PCs: The Next Hot Thing?
