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Liquid Metal CPU Cooling
IceFoot writes "Bored with water cooling? Try a liquid metal cooler. It's a proven technology, used in nuclear reactors for decades because it carries heat away much better than a heat sink, heat pipe, or water cooling."
I don't expect the slashdot editors to live in poverty but I think having three slashvertissments one after the other is really pushing it. This one even goes directly to a sales pitch with a sales contact at the bottom...
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
Yeah the EPA won't have a problem with people using Mercury to cool their computers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)
ian
haven't we foobar'd the environment enough? i don't know of anyone important enough to require more leaky chemicals, heavy metals, or organic-life-form incompatible carbon nanotubes so they can run games faster.
Mercury is the only elemental metal that is liquid at room temp. There are other liquid metals. Someone in another post mentioned gallium, as being liquid at just about human body temp, which would certainly be maintained within the cooling process of a PC. Additionally there are other elemental metals with low enough melting points that they would be concievable within a tight cooling loop that runs at a higher temp.
The key for using liquid metal in this as I see it, is to move heat away quickly, rather than moving large amounts. As such the metal itself would stay rather hot, and they would take advantage of the conductive properties of it, to get the heat away more rapidly. The loop containing the liquid metal would likely be localized to an area right around the chip you are cooling. No long pump and hose loops like in water cooling. Think of this more like heat pipe technology, but using a fluid to more efficiently move the heat energy.
OK guys. Can we have 1 news story before you post the next 3 ads? Thanks.
Sodium's not liquid at room temps or anywhere near water's boiling point. However, having said this, there's alloys to be used that ARE liquid at room temp- and that they're non-toxic, and have little in the way of obnoxious behaviors (though they DO have some obnoxious characteristics...). About all I'll say about the subject for now...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Other people read this and had something interesting to say. That says to me that it doesn't really matter if it's an ad or not.
Even products can be news.
"Derp de derp."
As I understand it, the advantage for liquid metal cooling in nuclear reactors is the high operating temperature. For an ideal Carnot heat engine, a larger deltaT leads to a more efficient engine.
In the case of a processor, I don't see any clear advantage. As far as room temperature liquid coolants are concerned, water is hard to beat because it has an unusually high heat capacity.
Then i searched for mercury cooling and, bingo! About 695,000 hits. The first hit is on www.devhardware.com. So, it's simply mercury, it's not new, and certainly not some eutectic alloy. Or do you happen know something more?
but even best adblock solution wont remove PR and AD articles ...
-- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
Magnetic pumping of liquid metal is a standard practice. You run a current through the metal in the transverse direction, and put it in a DC magnetic field. This induces a force proportional to the cross product of the field and the current. No moving parts, and no seals to leak.
The whole concept is probably pointless, but quite possible.
Let's put conductive liquid near the motherboard and magnets right next to the hard drive! Extended warranties ahoy!
Sometimes seventeen/Syllables aren't enough to/Express a complete
It will fail for other reasons.
People keep forgetting why liquid metal cooling is being abandoned in the nuclear industry. Liquid metals tend to be extremely aggressive substances. A Gallium-Indium mix will dissolve nearly any metal or alloy over time. Ceramics and glass tend to get permeated and lose their mechanical properties. Frankly no idea about plastics.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
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What about common or garden mercury? Liquid at room temperature. Though you really don't want it to leak...
;)
That's probably why. Can you imagine the product liability lawsuits when such systems begin to vent mercury vapor as they age (or get banged about at LAN parties)? May as well have a hardware-based random number generator built around an unshielded chunk of plutonium.
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