The fanless spinning heatsink: more efficient and immune to dust

[JMH]

There’s a fundamental flaw with fan-and-heatsink cooling systems: no matter how hard the fan blows, a boundary layer of motionless, highly-insulating air remains on the heatsink. You can increase the size of the heatsink and you can blow more air, but ultimately the boundary layer prevents the system from being efficient; it’s simply a physical limitation of fan-and-heatsink cooling systems in specific, and every kind of air-cooled heat exchanger in general, including air conditioning and refrigeration units.

The fanless spinning heatsink: more efficient and immune to dust | ExtremeTech

 

[JMH]

The fanless spinning heatsink: your questions answered by the inventor

After we covered the fanless, dust and detritus-immune heat exchanger last week, we were inundated with questions about the new technology. How does it work? Does it really use a thin layer of air to transfer heat — and if so, how can that possibly be better than copper or thermal grease? Is it really immune to dust, or are you just being hyperbolic? Are you sure that it can actually save 7% of annual electricity consumption in the US?

The fanless spinning heatsink: your questions answered by the inventor | ExtremeTech