“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.]
Ah, a Mac Radiator.