A company called Ventiva has created a new type of part for laptop, tablet, and other mobile computing devices that aims to replace the noisy fans that so many computers rely on these days to keep the high performance processors from overheating. Ventiva’s ionic cooling engine is a tiny metal stick about the size of a matchstick that ionizes molecules in order to start air moving in a specific direction. There are 2mm and 5mm tall versions that can vary in length depending on where a manufacturer might place them within a computing system.
According to their website, “Built on the principle of electrohydrodynamic airflow, ICE® harnesses the power of a minuscule plasma field to generate movement of air particles, delivering a potent “solid-state” cooling force suitable for up to 30-Watts Thermal Design Power (TDP) systems. Ventiva’s ICE® technology is a paradigm shift that is revolutionizing thermal management for a new era of lightweight, ultra-compact, vibration-free, and utterly silent electronic devices.”
We got to see how these work by blowing a bit of smoke and it was very impressive how much airflow these tiny little sticks can actually produce! They can be daisy chained as well so that air flow can be directed around corners within the hardware or in entirely different directions from what you would be limited to with a circular fan.
I use high performance laptops all the time and I’m very good at getting them working so hard that they might get very hot. Right now I have a big fan riser to place a laptop on, but even with that, sometimes I have to set the laptop up against an open window with cold winter air blowing against its base to cool it down. So for me, improved mobile computer cooling technology is very welcome!
Check out the tech in action below: