Cooler Master teams with CoolChip Technologies to advance heatsink with rotating fins

[Shawn Knight]

The PC cooling market has gone largely unchanged for years. Enthusiasts can typically choose between a high-end heatsink with an array of heatpipes, fins and a mixture of copper and aluminum or a self-contained liquid cooling kit that transfers heat to a radiator for expulsion. Both, however, usually rely on fans to draw the heat away from the source.

In July 2011, Sandia National Laboratories unveiled a new device called the Air Bearing Heat Exchanger that promised to dramatically change the air-cooling landscape. It seemed promising enough but we haven’t heard anything more on the matter… until now.

The technology has resurfaced at CES albeit under a different name. Cooler Master has partnered with a company called CoolChip Technologies and is showcasing what appears to be an identical approach to what we saw several years ago from Sandia.

It’s being called the Kinetic Cooling Engine and just like the original, this cooler consists of a finned heatsink that rotates atop a thin cushion of air above a stationary base. Because the radial fins of the heatsink spin on their own, there’s no need for a separate cooling fan.

This method is said to eliminate much of the dead air associated with typical tower heatsinks – spots that remain hot because they don’t get sufficient airflow. Cooler Master claims it offers 50 percent better cooling than a standard heatsink and is half the size. What’s more, it’s also virtually silent compared to a blower-style fan.

Its small size means it could be an excellent alternative for small form factor builds. The device appears to still be in the prototype phase so it’ll likely be a bit longer before we see retail solutions crop up. 

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59346-cooler-master-teams-coolchip-technologies-advance-heatsink-rotating.html

 

[Sniped_Ash]

This is really cool (heh), but I'm not sure how I feel about a chunk of copper spinning at high RPM inside my case...

 

[stewi0001]

My only concern is how effective is the heat transfer from the base plate to the spinning fins?

 

[insect]

My only concern is how effective is the heat transfer from the base plate to the spinning fins?

Likely no worse than transferring heat from your base plate to the stationary cooling fins. The real limitation is always from metal > air. Air is a great insulator (thus double/triple paned windows).

 

[stewi0001]

This is really cool (heh), but I'm not sure how I feel about a chunk of copper spinning at high RPM inside my case...

and yet you are willing to get in a motorized vehicle? ;P

 

[stewi0001]

My only concern is how effective is the heat transfer from the base plate to the spinning fins?

Likely no worse than transferring heat from your base plate to the stationary cooling fins. The real limitation is always from metal > air. Air is a great insulator (thus double/triple paned windows).

yes the air barrier is what has me scratching my head. obviously, you can't have them touching since that would create more heat and friction... ugh I have too much other stuff on my brain right now to focus on this XD

 

[insect]

yes the air barrier is what has me scratching my head. obviously, you can't have them touching since that would create more heat and friction... ugh I have too much other stuff on my brain right now to focus on this XD

Ahhhhh! I see - yes, you're worried about base-plate -> "thing layer of air" -> fins transfer. Yes, that will possibly be an issue.

 

[Kibaruk]

This is really cool (heh), but I'm not sure how I feel about a chunk of copper spinning at high RPM inside my case...

and yet you are willing to get in a motorized vehicle? ;P

I don't think he has a motorized vehicle inside his case...

A good question here, we use Thermal Paste in order to avoid micro imperfections from reducing our capacity to transfer heat from our proc to our cooler (When you apply it wrongly or don't apply at all there are a good couple degrees of difference), how good is the heat transfer from the base to the rotating piece if they are not bond??

 

[Guest]

Looks good, a little concerned of use over time with the dust/fluff build up looks like would get jammed up quite quickly

 

[Puiu]

Looks good, a little concerned of use over time with the dust/fluff build up looks like would get jammed up quite quickly

it should be much better than traditional ones when it comes to dust buildup.

 

[Sniped_Ash]

This is really cool (heh), but I'm not sure how I feel about a chunk of copper spinning at high RPM inside my case...

and yet you are willing to get in a motorized vehicle? ;P

Yes, because I'm pretty well protected from the spinny bits in a car if they get loose???

 

[hahahanoobs]

This is really cool (heh), but I'm not sure how I feel about a chunk of copper spinning at high RPM inside my case...

and yet you are willing to get in a motorized vehicle? ;P

Yes, because I'm pretty well protected from the spinny bits in a car if they get loose???

What about when you get loose and fly out a car window, because it does happen? The dude has a point. Anything falling off should be the last thing people should worry about. I highly doubt anyone is going to use one of these in a computer they really really care about.

Wow was it really 2011 when they showed this? I remember seeing this and the final version at least looks decent.

 

[Jad Chaar]

This is very cool. I wonder if the 50% claim is legit though. I need numbers before I am convinced.

 

[cliffordcooley]

This is no more dangerous and less likely to fly apart than a plastic blade.

I think what people fail to realize is the fan movement creates a turbulence on the heatsink. The turbulence disrupts the thermal barrier of an air pocket and forces heat transfer. It works the same way as using fans on heatsinks.

 

[bmaytum]

Any info whether this nifty cooler has to be horizontal - images only show it mounted horizontally. That would rule out use in most tower desktops which have vertically oriented CPUs and GPUs.

 

[melkiik]

Any info whether this nifty cooler has to be horizontal - images only show it mounted horizontally. That would rule out use in most tower desktops which have vertically oriented CPUs and GPUs.

And what really concerns me, is the heat being spread straight to RAM and a lot of chips and NBs might be affected too, depending on the motherboard.

And if you make a tower of this model it kinda makes it lose its point, doesnt it?
You would steel need the copper pipes to connect to the cpu, or chip.

On laptops though, it could be useful. Maybe by locating the cpu to a corner or near other heatsinks.

 

[cliffordcooley]

And what really concerns me, is the heat being spread straight to RAM and a lot of chips and NBs might be affected too, depending on the motherboard.

And how is that any different from the standard air cooler?

And if you make a tower of this model it kinda makes it lose its point, doesnt it? You would steel need the copper pipes to connect to the cpu, or chip.

No it wouldn't. It would still function vertical, the same way it does horizontally.

 

[chip igmo]

Great for cpu cooler manufacturers. instead of buying cpu fans, consumers will now be buying more expensive replacement fins.
I'll stick with my cheap but effective cm hyper 212x.

 

[Guest]

Why do you say that? Seems to me that a micro sized gap will easily become clogged with ever present dust.

 

[SuperVeloce]

I first read about these cooler designs about 10 years ago, I just don't remember if they showed a working model

 

[Guest]

Heat transfer will not be efficient. If it is too tight will be friction and resistance, if gap, transfer will be bad. Unless the fan floats in a mercury bath, which is kind of poison. Useless design, same stupidity as hubless wheels, to impress with no practicality.

 

[captaincranky]

I dunno, this looks to be too close to a prototype "perpetual motion machine", to be altogether comfortable with the concept.

It seems to me, the CPU would have to get pretty hot before sufficient airflow would be present to spin the fan.

When you come right down to it, the concept has been around for decades. I think it's called a "torque converter". One fan spins a second fan. Happens everyday in your automatic transmission. In this case, instead of power input from an engine, they're using heat to create the primary circular airflow, instead of having it spin.

I guess with PC sales being off, HSF sales are off as well. If CM can convince the build your own set this is the, "better mousetrap", they'll have created an emerging market in a stagnant application.

 

[Guest]

"transmits heat through the air bearing".... How? A few here have already mentioned that air acts as an insulator, even the reason for the original design was for the same reason stating on sandia site that the heatsink designs of the past had insulating 'air pockets' around the stationary heatsink fins rendering the effect inefficient. So again I ask please state in what scientific way is the heat transferred through the air bearing, please?

Signed Hopeful yet Synical

 

[cliffordcooley]

So again I ask please state in what scientific way is the heat transferred through the air bearing, please?

I've already answered. "turbulence"

What happens when you blow on a hot object, it cools quicker (hence the standard heatsink). Or when you blow hot air on a cooler object, it heats quicker. Why? Because both hot and cold objects will radiate thermal layers. Strip away those layers and you will destroy the thermal barrier. It is the lack of moving air particles that will create a thermal barrier.

And if we look at this from a different angle. What about all the air between the fan and heatsink? The fan strips away all that heat (another air pocket) so the sink can radiate more heat. The very same concept applies in the air bearings.

 

[captaincranky]

I
And if we look at this from a different angle. What about all the air between the fan and heatsink? The fan strips away all that heat (another air pocket) so the sink can radiate more heat. The very same concept applies in the air bearings.

Be all that as it may, both metal and fluids are far more efficient at MOVING heat, (or cold) than air. Hence the enormous cooling towers we place on our CPUs, which transfer the heat from the solid to the air. Were you to measure than actual contact area of metal to air, it would be substantial..

Now, I don't know whether this new tech is viable or not, but given the diminished area of air to metal contact, it seems to be counter intuitive that it would supply the same cooling as current strategies.

With the currently shrinking die sizes, along with reduced power requirements/ it could be that it will work sometime in the future, but not with today's hexa-core monsters.