“Apple is looking into the use of liquid coolants to transport heat in its notebook computer designs, a controversial technique it employed briefly on its line of dual processor Power Mac G5s several years ago,” Slash Lane reports for AppleInsider.
“In a 12-page patent request originally filed in May of last year and published for the first time last week, the Mac maker notes that significant increases in the computational performance of electronic devices over the past few years has made it harder to maintain acceptable internal and external operational temperatures in those devices,” Lane reports. “‘Portable devices, such as laptop computers, cellular telephones, and personal digital assistants have additional design constraints which make it even harder to manage thermal load,’ the company said.”
“As a potential solution, Apple proposes a system that includes a power source that is coupled to a heat pipe, where the power source includes an integrated circuit,” Lane reports. “‘This heat pipe may contain a liquid coolant that has a density greater than a first pre-determined value at room temperature,’ the filing explains. ‘A pump is coupled to the heat pipe is configured to circulate the liquid coolant through the heat pipe. Furthermore, a heat exchanger coupled to the heat pipe is configured to transfer heat from the heat pipe to an environment external to the computer system.'”
Lane reports, “More specifically, Apple said the the heat pipe could have a solid copper jacket with a hollow interior that includes a liquid coolant such as water, a coolant in an R133 group of coolants, or a coolant in an R134 group of coolants. The coupled pump would then circulate the liquid coolant, facilitating heat transfer from a power source in the computer system to forced-fluid drivers –such as fans — that would be located at opposite ends of the heat pipe.”
Much more in the full article, including Apple’s patent application illustrations, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
Cool
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Powerbook G5!
Used to cool a mini-nuclear reactor. Never have a battery issue for 20 plus years.
I really fail to see what is novel about this patent application. It seems to be out of Thermal Management 101.
They should use superconductors, then they wouldn’t have heat issues and would have huge power savings. Charge your battery once a month eh?
Does NOBODY remember the liquid-cooled G5’s? They all seem to be failing, pretty much at the end of Apple’s warrantee. And people are having varying success in getting Apple to fix them (some get blown off, some get free repairs, and some get new Intel Mac Pro’s).
I would not consider buying a liquid-cooled computer (either desktop or laptop), simply because they WILL leak and I tend to keep my computer for more than a year.
I am one of those liquid cooled G5 owners and I have to admit that this is by far the worst apple product I have ever owned. Not only has it been problematic with Leopard, but the processor’s temperature sensors where designed so they couldn’t easily be replaced. To fix it, you have to replace the entire processor/cooling component… last I heard it was $700 bones and of course, mine is now failing.
I like ole Jonathan Ive, but sometimes he really does some bonehead stuff for us end-users.
Liquid and electronics don’t mix. Unless they use some kind of mineral oil that is not conductive. But I am with dave on this one. The G5 liquid cooling system turned out to be a flawed solution, as far as longevity goes.
When some of that hot liquid finds its way to my super large magic wand of pleasure, I’ll sue the crap out of Apple.
Better solution is to reduce power consumption and, thus, thermal dissipation. That approach also improves battery life, which is a big plus.
Liquid cooling in a portable computer seems like a bad idea to me – more shock loads and vibrations that might induce leaks. Also, the addition of a pump will draw more battery power.
A true (passive) heat pipe will function without a pump, which would be a step in the right direction. Integrated cooling paths in the ICs would be a more elegant approach to conductive/convective cooling. I seem to recall some work on diamond thermal pipes in silicon-based ICs in the past.
@JoeS
…except for the fact that in order for a material to become and stay a superconductor, it has to be cooled to at the absolute warmest 212 Kelvins (aka -61.5 degrees Celcius or -78.07 degrees Fahrenheit)
Anyone remember those funky bubbling Christmas lights from the 60’s and 70’s?
Imagine something like that integrated into a MacBook.
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wouldnt it be nice to somehow use the heat to help charge the battery for longer use.
“a coolant in an R134 group of coolants”
This is otherwise defined as the drool scooped up off the floor at Moscone Center after each of Steve Jobs’ keynote addresses.
With their new aluminum cutting/molding tech could they not just build it into the casing?Something similar to heating/cooling floors in a house?
I don’t like it.
I wouldn’t buy one.
It seems an inelegant, luddite bit of flimflam – the technological equivalent of surrendering to the problem instead of innovating a solution.
Apple would do better to just include a big, USB-powered fan to plunk down beside your shiny-new, overheating laptop.
I expect better.
Sounds like more clever misdirection from Apple. Apple files for patents on many ideas that they never produce or even intend to produce
Looks like my Subaru’s cooling system.
My liquid cooled G5’s still running fine (knock wood :o).
Is it me or do Apple’s drawings look like they were produced on a Mac SE?
FWIW, I’ve had my liquid-cooled PowerMac Quad G5 for over three years now with zero cooling system problems (yes, knock-on-wood!). Very early on (first couple of months) there was a problem with the motherboard, which Apple swapped out. Since then, no problems.
Eric
Anyone remember the patent Apple filed for multi-signee iCards in September 2007?
Anyone?
Will it need anti-virus software or not? I can see it now, a great liquid cooled processor (what a pain!!) that doesn’t need anti-virus until it needs it. Should make a great Mac vs. PC commercial.
@Reality Check:
Yeah, and how long to hardcore over-clockers like that keep a machine? A year, maybe less? And how much did those liquid cooling solutions cost? I imagine 25-50% of the PC cost. That’s not a consumer-level machine.
I always thought Macs were “cool” enough.