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Cool your chips

Newcastle University is using jet fighter technology to stop computers of the future from overheating. With the power of electronic chips doubling every 18 months, the time may soon come when PC circuits have to be refrigerated to keep them cool.

Dr Brian Agnew of Newcastle University is leading a three-year government-funded project to develop a tiny refrigeration system for computers, involving Thermacore of Ashington, Northumberland, other industrial partners and the Universities of Oxford and London South Bank. Dr Agnew will draw on his experience of 30 years ago, when he worked for the MoD on a project to develop a shoe-box sized refrigeration unit that pumped liquid around the suits of jet fighter pilots to keep them cool in desert conditions.

He now intends to develop an evaporator - the electronic device that cools the liquid - small enough to fit on a chip and a miniature pump that is almost silent. The Oxford University team plans to use its aerospace expertise in building cryogenic devices to cool instrumentation on board satellites.

Dr Agnew has said that the first prototype of a miniature cooling system should be ready by the end of the project. He said: “It will add to the complexity of the computer, but if you can get it to run more efficiently and much faster - up to 15-20 per cent improvement in clockspeed - I think it could be very important.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .