“Yesterday, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that revealed their intent to reinvent a cooling system that is known in the industry as an ionic wind generator,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“This type of cooling system doesn’t use a fan or heat sink,” Purcher reports. “The problem with the current design however, is that it’s only able to cool limited areas within a computer or device.”
Purcher reports, “Apple’s reinvention of the ionic wind generator will allow the system to use specialty sensors and mechanisms to redirect cool air to various areas within a computer or device, as needed. This means that it could simultaneously cool down the CPU, GPU and other components such as batteries (in the case of iOS devices and the MacBook), transformers, storage devices, and other components. Yet if the GPU or any other component isn’t being used, the system won’t waste energy trying to cool down what’s not necessary. Just think of it as a ‘smart’ cooling system.”
Much more, including Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.