anvilmark writes "ABCNews has an article about a new carbon based thermal conducting foam. Very pricey to produce but has 4-5 times the efficiency of copper at 1/5th the weight of aluminum. ORNL technical documentation available here and here. Sounds like the perfect heat sink shim to me."
Great heat pipe material
by
vought
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· Score: 4, Interesting
You could make a nicely-shaped heat pipe with this stuff, tranferring heat from say, a processor to the outside of the case easily. I'm sure hardware and environmental engineers will have a ball with this stuff if it can be produced relatively inexpensively.
Mm.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Interesting
First, we'll never hear of this again likely.
Second, processors, etc.
Third, the most important - heating systems. What would this do in terms of cheapening the heating of houses and such? Or being used in a process to remove heat from a home? I'm no hvac person, but would something like this do wonders for those sort of things?
Heatsink shroud.
by
Night0wl
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Screw heatsink shroud. This sounds like a great mobo backing over the pin array on the back. And as a plug filler inbetween sockets.
Sounds like it'd do a wonder for preventing condensation, and helping at the same time for Pelter use..
sissy panzies and there water only setup's.
-- Computational Madness in a round package.
portables?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Interesting
While they are getting some really nice results on a weight vs. heat conduction, AL or CU heat sinks are still better when weight doesn't matter - like in your desktop computer.
A much better application for this stuff would be in portable computers. I can't think of any manufacturer that wouldn't like to cut 40grams from the top end laptops.
An athletic suit
by
GreenPhreak
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· Score: 2, Interesting
It would be cool if you could make an athletic suit out of this material for athletes to wear to prevent being overheated. It would block the sun's rays (reducing heat), but allow excess thermal energy to slough off a runner into his/her surroundings. Maybe the foam would be too rigid to make into a wearable apparatus, but it sounds like a cool idea. Either way, it beats sweating in order to cool down.
-- I drink to prepare for a fight; tonight I'm very prepared.
-Soda Popinksi
Re:Make a beer keg blanket to keep your kegs cool.
by
GigsVT
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· Score: 2, Interesting
They need to make a "-1 Totally wrong" moderation up just for you.
-- I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
One problem.....
by
Veramocor
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· Score: 3, Interesting
If you read the literature fully you'll find that the thermal conductivity is directionally orienented. So if you go 90 degrees in the other direction of the fibers it basically has a thermalconductivity of 1/5 aluminum. (see table 1 of the second ducument).
This may not matter for applictions like a processor, but cooling other objects with more of a 3-d surface may be a problem.
-- Veramocor
Re:anyone have any thoughts
by
HobbitGod42
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· Score: 1, Interesting
thats actually an interesting thought. no more heatsinks... even better make it strong and make car parts out of it... no more overheating in your car... but ofcourse since its only foam it is probably not that strong...
Great for Cooling UltraDense Clusters & Handhe
by
LuxuryYacht
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· Score: 3, Interesting
This is a great material for cooling supercomputers and ultra-dense servers that would otherwise require more elaborate elaborate liquid cooling systems.
The handheld and laptop market is another area that could really use this to keep the cpu and graphics processor cool.
This sounds like it takes highly thermally conductive polymers like CoolPoly to another level. .
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
Good for space
by
in+seine
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Just the thing to keep things cool in orbit. This is important because the effeciency of solar panels goes down as they get hot. The only way for the heat to get out is ratiation and your opponent is the sun.
think outside the beige box...
by
llamalicious
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· Score: 3, Interesting
add-on heat conductors for improving air-ventilation on disc brakes... make make WRX even happier:)
useful in supersonic aircraft... conduct the heat away from leading edges much faster than normal.
c'mon, join in... what other real-world apps could this be useful for. if the price can come down, and the production can come up... I can think of a lot more places this stuff would make sense.
Double braindead, it seems
by
PhysicsGenius
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· Score: 2, Interesting
You are wrong and they are right...but for the wrong reasons.
A high-efficiency heat conductor is one that acts quickly. In other words, when a fast moving atom/molecule hits it, the conductor responds more quickly in absorbing the thermal energy and transmitting it to the ambient environment. A 100% efficient conductor would transmit this energy so quickly that all fast moving atoms would come to a virtual standstill inside the container--in other words, absolute zero.
Practically speaking this never happens. Still, wrapping a really fast conductor around a soft drink will cool it off. But you still wouldn't want to do that because you couldn't pick up the glass--the outer surface is going to be hot.
I worked for the manufacturer - Poco Graphite
by
chrisflusche
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I worked for POCO Graphite in Decatur, Texas up until 6 months ago. POCO is the only licensed manufacturer of graphite foam (POCOFoam is their name for it).
This stuff isn't just good for a heat sink shim - IT CAN EASILY REPLACE YOUR ENTIRE HEATSINK AND FAN! But- heatsinks are only the beginning. POCO has made prototype car radiators out of this stuff that are 6 inches by 8 inches by 1 inch - AND THEY WORK EXTREMELY WELL!
To get an idea of just how well POCOFoam transfers heat, check out this video clip http://www.pocofoam.com/images/foam.mov. You will be highly impressed - I guarantee!
While not the same thing, carbon has been used as a heatsink interface material for years. My DEC Alpha came with a Grafoil pad to use between the processor and the heatsink, in lieu of heat sink paste. It's apparently spongy graphite made into a flexible pad.
Slashdot Mirror
the end of the article states
. Both Klett and Conway have started doing research for the government to adapt the foam for use in "personal cooling devices" for military personnel.
I wonder if they will try to intigrate this into the Nanotech suit that is being developed by MIT? or is this before that
I want a set of pots and pans in this stuff!
You could make a nicely-shaped heat pipe with this stuff, tranferring heat from say, a processor to the outside of the case easily. I'm sure hardware and environmental engineers will have a ball with this stuff if it can be produced relatively inexpensively.
First, we'll never hear of this again likely.
Second, processors, etc.
Third, the most important - heating systems. What would this do in terms of cheapening the heating of houses and such? Or being used in a process to remove heat from a home? I'm no hvac person, but would something like this do wonders for those sort of things?
Screw heatsink shroud. This sounds like a great mobo backing over the pin array on the back. And as a plug filler inbetween sockets.
Sounds like it'd do a wonder for preventing condensation, and helping at the same time for Pelter use..
sissy panzies and there water only setup's.
Computational Madness in a round package.
While they are getting some really nice results on a weight vs. heat conduction, AL or CU heat sinks are still better when weight doesn't matter - like in your desktop computer.
A much better application for this stuff would be in portable computers. I can't think of any manufacturer that wouldn't like to cut 40grams from the top end laptops.
It would be cool if you could make an athletic suit out of this material for athletes to wear to prevent being overheated. It would block the sun's rays (reducing heat), but allow excess thermal energy to slough off a runner into his/her surroundings. Maybe the foam would be too rigid to make into a wearable apparatus, but it sounds like a cool idea. Either way, it beats sweating in order to cool down.
I drink to prepare for a fight; tonight I'm very prepared. -Soda Popinksi
They need to make a "-1 Totally wrong" moderation up just for you.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
If you read the literature fully you'll find that the thermal conductivity is directionally orienented. So if you go 90 degrees in the other direction of the fibers it basically has a thermalconductivity of 1/5 aluminum. (see table 1 of the second ducument).
This may not matter for applictions like a processor, but cooling other objects with more of a 3-d surface may be a problem.
Veramocor
thats actually an interesting thought. no more heatsinks... even better make it strong and make car parts out of it... no more overheating in your car... but ofcourse since its only foam it is probably not that strong...
This is a great material for cooling supercomputers and ultra-dense servers that would otherwise require more elaborate elaborate liquid cooling systems.
The handheld and laptop market is another area that could really use this to keep the cpu and graphics processor cool.
This sounds like it takes highly thermally conductive polymers like CoolPoly to another level.
.
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
Just the thing to keep things cool in orbit. This is important because the effeciency of solar panels goes down as they get hot. The only way for the heat to get out is ratiation and your opponent is the sun.
add-on heat conductors for improving air-ventilation on disc brakes... :)
make make WRX even happier
useful in supersonic aircraft... conduct the heat away from leading edges much faster than normal.
c'mon, join in... what other real-world apps could this be useful for. if the price can come down, and the production can come up... I can think of a lot more places this stuff would make sense.
A high-efficiency heat conductor is one that acts quickly. In other words, when a fast moving atom/molecule hits it, the conductor responds more quickly in absorbing the thermal energy and transmitting it to the ambient environment. A 100% efficient conductor would transmit this energy so quickly that all fast moving atoms would come to a virtual standstill inside the container--in other words, absolute zero.
Practically speaking this never happens. Still, wrapping a really fast conductor around a soft drink will cool it off. But you still wouldn't want to do that because you couldn't pick up the glass--the outer surface is going to be hot.
I worked for POCO Graphite in Decatur, Texas up until 6 months ago. POCO is the only licensed manufacturer of graphite foam (POCOFoam is their name for it). This stuff isn't just good for a heat sink shim - IT CAN EASILY REPLACE YOUR ENTIRE HEATSINK AND FAN! But- heatsinks are only the beginning. POCO has made prototype car radiators out of this stuff that are 6 inches by 8 inches by 1 inch - AND THEY WORK EXTREMELY WELL! To get an idea of just how well POCOFoam transfers heat, check out this video clip http://www.pocofoam.com/images/foam.mov. You will be highly impressed - I guarantee!
While not the same thing, carbon has been used as a heatsink interface material for years. My DEC Alpha came with a Grafoil pad to use between the processor and the heatsink, in lieu of heat sink paste. It's apparently spongy graphite made into a flexible pad.