World's First Powerless Air Cooler on a Motherboard!

[dra6o0n]

The Stirling engine is 200 years old you know...

There might be ways to incorporate this into a cpu cooler without needing the cpu to get too hot, because as it shows, if the cpu is constantly 60 degrees Celsius or higher, you are ruining the processor's life span.

[ranyerebrc]

Where can I buy one of these equipment?

[taejamhaha]

This needs a very heat sensitive material in order to function below 20 degrees celsius

[cheapshotdrummer]

I see only 1 problem with this design: The cpu would have to be WAY too hot to propagate enough steam or hot fast expanding gas to have that fan turn anywhere NEAR fast enough....

[fight360uk]

wow ^^

[neardood1]

that is pretty cool, i'd just like to see it work

[GammaSouljah]

People the laws of thermodynamics prevent the fan from every producing more cooling energy than it gets in heat energy from the cpu. so it will never over cool the cpu down from the energy it gets from it.

But to be honest i think this is totally pointless your never going to overclock the cpu with this. ;)

[feuchster]

@GammaSouljah So you are saying a fanless cpu cooler makes the cpu hotter? Your thought process is off... sorry.

[GammaSouljah]

@feuchter

I did not say that. i said it will never drive the fan at more power than its effectively giving out in heat energy. this does not mean that is not transferring enough energy into the fan so that it does not over heat its just not as efficient from a cooling perspective as using a fan with it own power source as the CPU will run at a lower temperature giving it longer life and better performance. So it will run the CPU hotter than a fan with its own power source.

[sarwestside]

КПД будет слишком мал...

Но если он дойдёт до некоего предела, он охладит проц настолько, что этой шайтан-машине неоткуда будет брать тепло, чтобы преобразовать его в кинетическую энергию, необходимую для охлаждения себя же...

И шуметь будет, распизделись тут))))

[frollard]

My only qualm is that if you are using the heatpipes to remove the heat to the heatsink, that will extract a lot of juice from the stirling side of the mechanism, potentially stalling it - the faster the sterling runs, the better the heatpipe works, the worse the sterling works.

[MacNcheese76]

No effence.... but this is a complete fail lol. Quite simple too. The heat pipes will remove the heat from the CPU onto the heatsink serounding them at the top. By the time the fan starts moving, the CPU is already fried. Not only that, if it did work, it would have to be calculated to the smallest detail so the cooler doesnt cool too much so it doesnt function.

[Vezm99]

@MacNcheese76 if the CPU is cooled too much for the fan to operate it wouldn't be needed and would, slow or stop so long as it is correctly calibrated. Making this not only cordless but self adjusting. You seem to be under the impression that there would be not R&D or fine tuning. It is conceptual not a final design. The brilliance is it is running on what is usually just waste heat energy, RECYCLING.

This video shows and idea, not a product.

[MacNcheese76]

@Vezm99 I understand what you are saying and its a good case. But the heat pipes are what makes this very difficult to be calibrated correctly - for that design, anyway. The heat pipes' purpose is to absorb the heat from the CPU. The gas inside the pipes rises as it becomes lighter, and the colder gas can make contact with the CPU. That is the cycle of this type of heat sink. The potential problem that rises is that the heat would build up much quicker before the fan would start, great idea tho

[joshetham]

Wait, hold on there! Aren't the fins suppose to face the blue fan? And if we cool the CPU, won't that take away the thermal energy used to empower the fan?

[joshetham]

Wait, hold on there! Aren't the fins suppose to face the blue fan?

[joshetham]

Looks kinda an innovation. Probably would take a little longer to be usable.

[555russe]

the cpu takes about 200 watts.. why should you build such a thing if you can buy a fan which takes 12 watts..

[Vezm99]

@555russe The same reason solar panels are around. It takes baby steps to get to the future.

[yoshidis4]

Yea, try to do this and compare the rpm and airflow to an electric fan.

Its gonna be deadly slow

fail

[Avataryoutuification]

But then again, passive cooling is still good so this could be a good idea. It'd only save a watt or two though.

[kght222]

i only see one problem here; if the stirling is effective it looses power and becomes ineffective, where would the balance be?

[boobie284]

looks like they stole a concept again from oh i don't know autos...

[SpYder9007]

This really is the perfect way to keep it at an optimal and steady temperature...as long as you can make it efficient enough.

[patrickrmiller]

Uh... so the hotter it gets the cooler ....it gets.... say what

[cmcdonald1337]

So you are using the heat from the cpu to cool the cpu... that logic isn't flawed at all.

[Anvilshock]

Where is it now? Where can I buy that?

[007k5]

Looks pretty cool but is i think it doesn't has enough power

[Idiotsmakemesad]

I think this would actually inhibit heat loss since all the heat energy now has to flow through the Stirling engine before it can escape. They've got the idea backwards, they should use an electric motor to spin the Stirling engine and then it will actively pump heat away from the chip.

[drKlitzman]

Like thats gonna save energy when you got a gtx 480

[NLmonsterNL]

stirling engine

[Avataryoutuification]

Physics saves you money :) But wouldm't it be a bit big considering you may need a bigger fan for airflow ( Unless its a amd processor generating alot of heat, and fanboys, stfu I have AMD procesors in all my pcs, my dad has an intel and I like amd more! Live with the facts, amd tends to have more heat producing procesors!) ? Very good idea.

[elvismail]

It's noisy!

[cjgan80]

Wheres the CPU ?

Lol

[Kallertask]

A fan only uses about 8W, maybe even less.

So i don't see the point with this powerless fan :S

[KaneBHOP]

@Kallertask Ok.. Think outside the box for 2 seconds. 8W vs 0W? 365 days * 8W a day = 2920watts a year VS 0W * 365 days = well, ZERO WATTS. you would be amazed at how much money you can save by unplugging appliances when not being used. Even though not turned on they still draw power. Get my point?

[caqtv]

@KaneBHOP A watt is a measure of energy per second. That turns your equation into an acceleration of power consumption, which you probably didn't intend. Also the regular fans in a (my) tower are 20-25W each, as well as the PSU being several hundred watts regardless... There's no notable difference in power consumption. Also with a well-designed PC in the first place (small convection-based ones) this is unnecessary anyway. Not that it isn't a cool idea.

[slinkipie]

learn how to fucking spell before calling someone else a noob. noob.

[thedanesimon]

it is already mede noob !!!

[MrROTD]

the problem with this is lubrication, you need a pistonless stirling engine, perhaps with diaphram insted.

[63Jax]

peltier efect.

[StinkyCheese9999]

Bad design, relies on the chipset heating up enough to run it which is the opposite if the goal with cooling a chipset. Plus, added mechanical complexity reduces lifespan, increases size for any particular level of cooling.

amcnea, an electric fan does not cost $10, even at retail that is excessive but to mass manufacturers buying in bulk the average plastic fan itself costs less than 75 cents and an equivalent performance (ie - simple and small) chunk of aluminum not much more.

[HaydieB]

@StinkyCheese9999 I was thinking the same thing! and if you have a lower power chipset that isn't heavily overclocked (Obviously you would use something like this for an over clock job anyway) you CAN already by coolers that don't incorporate fans and just rely on a large and effect heat sink to dissipate unwanted heat energy from the chip. It was a nice idea for a bit of fun but just not practical.

[StinkyCheese9999]

@HaydieB

The worst part is in order for that to have a sufficiently low temperature on the chip it is cooling (if it were possible at all in a reasonable size and cost which I dispute with modern higher thermal density chips) you would need more chassis airflow so instead of consuming roughly 1W with a slow spinning chipset fan you would need 1W more power to the chassis fans to increase their RPM to compensate, which also lets more noise escape due to proximity to the outside room & more dust

[utkua]

I do not think they can be made enough silent to be practical unless you do not use ridiculously expensive materials.

[le0leole0]

how do you get it started? needs to be turned over to start, then if the fan does its job, it will stop again. ideally youd have a fan that could cool it to the point to just barely kick the fan over. just the initial momentum required.

[bronie12345]

you didn't see it also cools itself by sucking air through its own heatsink?

i know this is minimal, but it will be enough to keep it running

[TogieTung]

If they adopted the KOICHI HIRATA's rotary stirling engine concept in the CPU cooling fan unit, it could reduce wear & tear & vibration. Interesting concept though..Where can I buy the stirling fan in Malaysia?

[syndrome95]

Excellent idea. It occured to me that you could power a stirling engine with CPU heat.

Not expensive at all really just tricky to machine for a hobbist with limited resorces.

Would make a lovely Steam Punk computer.

Dont listen to anyone who isnt impressed. They are missing the point. I could go on at length about such bad attitudes but whats the point.

[masterchief3k]

@syndrome95 lol, hobbist

[blizzerd101]

i built a sterling engine for 5€ once out of plastics and scrap metal

true, man hours are not counted, but if you can make one with 5€ on materials you can do so even cheaper in a factory

[joebro391]

basically it's a stirling engine?? too expensive and will wear out, unless someone finds better materials for certain parts

[cyrix1986]

If we want to be eco friendly then we need to hit the source of the problem. where is the electricity coming from that powers the computer in the first place? not really logical, the only place where this would come in handy as far as electrical consumption would be in a laptop, would be pretty hard to fit any type of stirling engine in a laptop i would imagine.

[amcnea]

Do you have any idea how much more complicated and expensive that is compared to a simple electric fan?

An electric fan costs like $10, a metal Stirling engine costs at least $100 bucks.

Not to mention CPU fans use very little energy. So, you are spending a lot of money to save very little energy. It will never work.

[Princc3]

somebody already tried this on an old computer?:O ... or is it just staying a very good idea?

[djancak]

interesting idea

[Ianpbx]

The fan will not move fast enough and therefore not displace enough air.

[SWINGREGORY]

great

[eurofyter]

But if it relies on the chip being hot, how will it work properly if the fan is doing its job and cooling the chip?

[chenalos]

That's something in biology we like to call homeostasis.

[NighttFlyer]

It will start to spin whenever the chip gets hot, and stop after its cooled

[Snooch1984]

true but it wont work once the temp inside the case rises to close to the temp of the air coming off the chip, as the efficiency would depend on room/case temperature so heavily it would be stupid to use one of these when a motor would do the job far more reliably. Motorised fans use practically no energy so why bother changing.

[gravediggmn]

it would be good chipset cooler but i wouldnt trust it for my cpu

[randomguy9898]

if you people didn't know, that is a low temprature stirling engine,that means it runs off the diffrence of heat in air. by the looks, it has about the power and needs of a handheld model, in other words, it can run off the heat of your hand.

[pyrosis10]

so basicaly it runs on the heat of the mother board its trying to cool... doesnt that mean that it will never be as effective as other fans but it will always work but only to an extent

[randomguy9898]

yes, but the hotter it gets, the faster it goes, plus stirling engines are almost inpossible to hear, and very quiet compared to the little electric fans we have now.

[0vrqq]

I never really thought of that. This will work. However I do not see the potential for laptops to be using this type of fan system. Sterling engines can go pretty darn fast, but nobody really likes the idea of a mechanical cooling an engine, but none the less I think it will be more effetive at cooling a mother board than a regular fan. The only problem is how are you going to start the sterling engine if the engine is inside your computer?

[randomguy9898]

that would probably be a thing like a small motor starts it, or maybe it weighted a little bit to be at a postion whne it stops to start again when the heat is gone.

[whydoyouneedit]

I've been trying to push my inventor friend in this direction. All that heat is just a waste. As far as it being more complex or more expensive, I remember when people said "what the hell would I need a computer for?" Things change, keep at it, it's a great idea!

[GuesswhoxD]

good idea..but akward silence O_O

[haffeysucks]

looks to me like the fan's spinning the wrong way.

[jozafax]

The fan is spinning the right way!

The fan is geared.

[batmanthe]

This doesn't seem that special to me, I mean fans are definitely one of the lower powered elements inside of a PC.. Your saving 5 watts at the most.

[kubetriangle]

Hopefully it doesn't move that slow.

[Vegetable4]

I lol'd.

[DioXin]

In order for this to work ,it'll need High thermal conductivity, meaning new designs/materials, else the cpu will explode/smoke before the fan actually starts rotating.

enyways , MSI isnt a company that fools around too much, if they brought it to this level, it probbly works... either ways, worth keeping an eye on this thing..

[Ravenpaw972]

What, i don't speak science, plz exlain this to me as you would a 3 year old

[smlbstcbr]

Well it is simple: you have a large amount of heat to take away. Heat=energy, so you can transform the heat in movement in an Sterling engine. To move the fan requires energy, this energy is taken from the engine. In the end, you take the heat, transform it into movement and as a result, you get a decrease in the temperature of the chipset. As the process cannot transform 100% of the heat into movement, it is used to drive the fan to disipate the remaining heat.

[berryblackfish]

2008 Nucleus 3D Medical Animation Demo Reel

[Neron]

Not a bad idea

[cfsapper]

Actually, technically that design -does- make use of "power". The power in question is however not electrical in nature, it is thermal. The expansion of warming air forcing the piston upwards is by definition work, and to perform work, power is applied. Power = work / unit time.

[veins101]

@cfsapper this is 2 years larer but i juz wan to point out that the fan does not need additional power... its feed on waste power dissipated from your cpu... the only bad this is it wont start immediately... and the fan speed is not controllable.. but luckly the fan speed is proportional to the heat difference... 

[HamenChips109]

@cfsapper IMO It uses power from its components that's why it's called powerless, powerless meaning it doesn't need another powersupply to power it.

[cheapshotdrummer]

@cfsapper You're so hard to impress.... XD

[neytosh]

The fan would never spin fast enough to have any desired effect. In fact it would just be a nuisance that quickly got covered in dust.

[forgodsake47]

ooh this rele turns me on

[snivesz32]

HAHA, look at it! Its got a phase-change passive heat pipe sandwiched between the chip and the sterling engine. The heat pipe pulls the heat out of the chip before the sterling engine has enough heat to even run. In fact a heat pipe alone works just fine in millions of machines today. So the fan doesn't have enough energy to move itself much less create an air current, which isn't even needed.

OTOH, now you have a free plug to power your 650watt sli graphics cards..

[SwineNahNah]

For some even 4°C is enough to work, school labs can get them to demonstrate, that even body heat is enough, anyone can buy such engine for ~400$ or less.

Of course passive cooling should be sufficient for motherbord's chip, but this one LOOKS COOL, and if it sell good - that's what cpunts. 8)

[moocow728]

woooow nerds

[IRatchetI]

A'men brother!

[neytosh]

where would the world be without nerds? think.

[SHANDAMUNDO]

sexy, i would

[Martenslump]

it's a stirling eninge?

[icehazard1]

this is not fake, i found it on slashdot

[SHANDAMUNDO]

must not be fake if u found it on the internet

[Gruelius]

If this works it could lead to new technologies bein developped. Doubt it tho

[VovanDopolas]

Is not FAKE! It's developed by MSI.

[gttrsnp]

fake!

[zathura345]

wow, listen to you nerds rambling on how it would work. My motto is: Wont know till ya try it. Try it, see how it works out and then say shit about it...

[CypherSystem]

the processors gonna burn up, a heat engine like that will never make the rpms necessary, also the hotter it becomes the faster it spins, so let your processor get hot in order to cool it?? Interesting Idea but pointless.

[torturedoranges]

i dont understand.

[Skeletine]

Probably would work, but what's the point?

[RaVeNz2007]

It seems to be ok with the airflow, but everyone isn't calculating the actual heat with the continue heat pressure, If the systems is hanging it shall preduce around 70degrees of pure heat shall the system be reliable ??

[Korafat]

Nice idea, but practically will it be reliable?

[CyberSchnook]

Not only do I expect this will work, but by removing the heat that powers the engine, it should automatically be variable-speed as well!

[bigdavegunsmith]

I wouldn't count on seeing this in any useful capacity for several years. While it would make a great gimmick on an 'eco-friendly' board, I wouldn't trust this device for any important cooling tasks, and no serious motherboard company is going to trust their warranty to it either.

Fans are the single largest failure point in consumer PC's. Adding this level of complexity isn't going to help matters.

[csingcsung]

bullshit, if you have better cooling it will better efficiency, electric motor cost 1watt

[SwineNahNah]

Actually there is reference for size - fittings must be in standart dimentions (~45x45mm), wich hints that base must be around 45x85mm or more, hight could be no less than 90-120mm.

And after all, this is Northbridge cooler, it has no need to be as fast as CPU or GPU coolers.

[notlivingyet]

if i look on my mboard, i don't see any powered-cooling-system on my northbridge...

so i don't see the economy reason in that

and in fact it's just to big for northbridge, if i look at some random mboards i see many transistors, the cpu, agp/pci-e slots and the memory slots around the northbridge, i don't see were it could fit...

[notlivingyet]

i don't think that this "piece of history" will make it better than a voltage/current-powered fan, it need some time to get speed, if i look how stirling works, it's just to slow... to make it fast enough, for real cooling, there has to be a real temperature difference between cpu and cooling element, to get this difference either the cpu has to be hot, which mind i don't realy like... or the cooling element has to kept cool enough, which depends a fast fan...

[notlivingyet]

for this, i rather take some "powerwaste" in a real cpu fan than a not cooling but low-current cpu-"cooler"

[hendrix867]

how can you guys determine how big it is...theres no reference....or am i wrong

[notlivingyet]

look at the screws...

sure they can make the mechanic-part smaller, but they won't let them be "open-air"...

they have to take a "body" around that whole mechanics

i think it's not realy bigger than those freaky thermaltake-fans...

[alien1201]

Idea may be good but its too big. Seem u use processor heat as a power source, but a PC just start could it process heat to drive?

And ur 3D drawing look uglily.

[GodlyMonkey12]

What happened to heat sinks?

[AQPlayer92]

It's fucking big...

[goobectomy]

made me seasick

[timwins31]

this is one of the most useless and impractical things i have ever seen. ever.

[ross340]

wouldn't it cool itself to the point where the sterling doesn't work? Or wouldn't the case's air temperature not give it enough of a heat difference to power the sterling? Great idea, and for all you idiots who say it's slow or powerless, IT'S FREAKIN CAD, LAY OFF.

[salemcripple]

I wouldn't think so. Sterling engines can work off just about any heat source. Even a cup of warm watter, it just has to be engineered right.

[ross340]

wouldn't it cool itself to the point where the sterling doesn't work? Or wouldn't the case's air temperature not give it enough of a heat difference to power the sterling? Great idea, and for all you idiots who say it's slow or powerless, IT'S FREAKIN CAD, LAY OFF.

[rebelkid4ever]

I got an idea. You know how a bunch of people bounce their legs up and down when they're writing, on the computer, ect.? How bout a fan powered by the bouncing motion of said person's foot.

[indain007]

It seems like its very weak

[salemcripple]

It will run much faster than that, this was slowed meerly to show the action of the piston and valves. . Look up Sterling engine.

[supressorgrid]

a sterling engine, ingenius!

[Adolfey]

looks like those stuff ppl used to use the power of rivers..

new technollogy! LOL

[evilnapsterguy]

Ridiculously impractical.

[machriderx]

Doesn't look very powerful (as in terms of pushing air). I guess powerless is a good way to describe it.

[VWXYZ]

aaah! I get it! but I down really believe it :-/ your motherboard ain't that hot it can make the power to save it self.

[mrr1181]

yes it is u can cook an eg on one ^^ well.... i guess =P

[Gunstick]

why create rotatinal motion first from linear motion, you can move air as well with linear motion, that could make the engine more effective. Waht I like about this concept: as the cpu gets warmer the faster it runs. Problem: the thing is not self starting!

[PackedFunk]

Buy Asus or Tyan motherboards. Don't but this junk.

[ebe2012]

msi motherboards are junk and fail within the first year...

[TheBigPicture1]

this is a 3d model the real life one cant work because of his low waight

[the1great1turd]

i dont get it....

[EliteXfp]

if you're interested in it then you're a nerd- i was only interested because it said powerless. you hear the word motherboard and you spunk yourselves

[spark300c]

nice but do not forget that Stirling engine converts heat to mechanical energy. Mechanical engine can be converted to electrical energy. Which means a computer that consumes less energy.

[Goolz]

stirling Engine Theory to power a motherboard fan

[isabelstjen]

BOEIEND... not!

[wolfspryde]

.............wtf is it? i saw powerless so i clicked on it.. not to learn some science crap that no one will understand. i mean who in the right mind would try to build that thing?

[arsipaani]

it is stirling engine from year 1816. works on temperature diffrence.

[rudeep]

that is powerless engine u dickhead

[RationalyAtheist]

no it runs on the heat generates from the Cpu

[alejo0823]

you are right, in the tittle should say not to click if you are an idiot.

[mranenome]

Oh that is nuts. Yes by God let me strap this ninteeth century contraption right on there.

If this worked at all I'd just have to get one

[JKx]

thats nice but would get clogged with dust very quickly

[gnorville]

I'd rotate the cooling fins on top of the cpu 90 deg so that the fan is blowing between them, but then again, I'm no engineer. Is this real? Or just a concept?

[gnorville]

and I'd turn the fan around, so you're not dragging hot air thru the radiator and back to the top of the cpu fins.

[Tantalium]

there is one "smal" problem: the stirling engine needs a start system for runing, usual this is an electric motor or coil with magnet. however stirling engine is the most efficient thermic machine.

[Digeridude]

Just what we need - more moving parts.

[fuzzymonkey777]

Is this a self starting stirling engine? Or maybe you could leave your computer on all the time.

[hydehk]

is it possible that the CPU is not hot enough to push the fan but already overheat itself?

[mranenome]

This is reportedly intended as a northbridge cooler, not for the cpu. They also say the chip has to get up to 60c before this thing starts working.

[izybit]

The thermal energy of the CPU is used to rotate the fan. And yes, the fan rotates in the wrong way (probably the guy made a mistake there).

[Turbo617]

Wrong, it is turning the right direction.

[timg455]

Powerless air cooler, I thought thats what heatsinks were.

[monkeyhihi]

Well, heatsinks do what they're called. They take the heat from the processor, and put it all in location. Only problem is, the heat sinks have to then be cooled, which is what the fan does.

[timg455]

Yea they are cooled with their fins with a large surface area.

[FerasX]

in this video the fan moves in the opposite way

[vertigo1123]

i looks very cool and efficient, but how is this powerless?

[Mastamustang]

i think the hot air goes from the heatsink to the fan then the fan's movements power the rest of the machine.

[barrybob32]

WRONG the hot air from the bottom and the coole air from the top push against eachother causing the fan to rotate. (it actually rotates pretty fast in real life

[cris360king]

i dunno wtf u guys are talkin about but...AWSOME!!!!

[FSK1138]

looks very cool it would make a good backup for water cooling or ram / harddrive cooling

[eecckkaann]

looks like sterling-technique

[TestECull]

It is a Sterling engine :D

[luremaster2]

interesting technology. i hope it works fine.

ilginç, ilginç olduğu kadar da basit bir teknoloji. umarım düzgün bir şekilde bilgisayar sistemlerine entegre edebilirler.

[azcn2503]

fan looks a little small ;)