Re:The Sandia Cooler (2016)
by icegreentea2 on Sunday June 27, 2021 @12:42PM
(#27653034)
As described by the lab, the Sandia cooler predominantly transfers heat across an air-gap (maintained via self-generated fluid bearing) between the base plate and rotating impeller.
As described, they claim that if they can maintain the air-gap to 10um, then they get a net win since the specific (per surface area) thermal resistance is sufficiently low (due to only being 10um), and the transfer surface area is comparatively enormous. Nevertheless, the air-gap still forms the dominant component of their overall thermal resistance.
Reading through their posted development report [0], it's apparent that they were having trouble hitting that 10um target with their designs.
Not exactly a surprise that this is the most difficult part. Not surprising that the "commercialized versions" (see other posts) don't use this mechanism.
As described, they claim that if they can maintain the air-gap to 10um, then they get a net win since the specific (per surface area) thermal resistance is sufficiently low (due to only being 10um), and the transfer surface area is comparatively enormous. Nevertheless, the air-gap still forms the dominant component of their overall thermal resistance.
Reading through their posted development report [0], it's apparent that they were having trouble hitting that 10um target with their designs.
Not exactly a surprise that this is the most difficult part. Not surprising that the "commercialized versions" (see other posts) don't use this mechanism.
[0] https://ip.sandia.gov/techpdfs/Development%20of%20Sandia%20C...