HP Cools Computers with Tiny Jet Engines

[DIGSox]

It looks like Hewlett-Packard has come up with a solution to the problem of computer servers producing more heat with every new generation of processors.

Hewlett-Packard is looking to model jet airplanes to relieve heat-stressed computer servers. The fans run so fast and produce so much air pressure that they should be able to provide the cooling needs for the next several generations of HP servers.

Check out the article at Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16992&ch=infotech

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

thats pretty retarded -_-, just like their stab at watercooling

 

[IcY18]

shit sounds like a good idea, i just wonder what real world results they produce and how big they actually are...hell i'd get my comp one if they are quieter and produce more cfm

 

[sailer]

**** sounds like a good idea, i just wonder what real world results they produce and how big they actually are...hell i'd get my comp one if they are quieter and produce more cfm

I'm not sure about quieter. I lived on an Air Force Base and jet engines can be called a lot of things, but not quiet. You get all that air moving in that cooler and it should make a lot of noise. Not bad for a coporation, where the computers are in another room, but sitting right next to one? I think water cooling makes more sense.

 

[Raviolissimo]

in 1990 i was working on a radar system which put out 10 kW heat with a 10% duty cycle. 1000 watts in other words.

i found a fan to pump mega air through the cooling duct. the fan was 4" diameter, 4" long, and cost - $5000.

i kept the VP of engineering posted on what i was doing. originally the fan was a sample.

then they brought in a new electrical engineering manager, who out-ranked me, as the mechanical engineering supervisor. he got pissed off about the $5000 hover-craft quality fan.

the EE manager got me transferred to a different division, the vacuum factory. in hindsight it was actually pretty damn interesting, but at the time it felt like a demotion & i split.

they worked very hard to avoid using the $5000 fan. the EE manager was going bald at the time, and it may have contributed to his hair loss. once he got me transferred, he was seriously invested in trying everything BUT the solution i had set up.

in the end, according to an EE friend who worked there the whole time, they used the $5000 fan, and it worked.

that HP fan system looks pretty expensive. on the other hand, my experience with HP engineers is, they know what they're doing. from a distance, i would say it would be cheaper to use a bunch of cheap case fans positioned to keep air moving through the various air ducts.

but they probably have sensors and everything all balanced.

actually, that HP fan probably cost $200K+, including engineering time.