apple news/media reports
11/21/2006, 5:25pm, EST
Tuesday, November 21st
Apple to use power-generating heatsinks?
Apple is currently in talks with Eneco -- an engineering firm -- to use a new Thermal Chip which is said to convert heat into electricity, bouncing the free electrons of hot metal against cold metal to capture the resulting energy. The chip is alternately able to dramatically cool hardware by receiving direct electricity, and produces as much as five times the energy density of a lithium-ion battery, according to Eneco. Both companies have yet to settle on a contract and are not expected to ship products in the immediate future, according to ITWeek. Apple has often struggled in the past with thermal issues in its systems, and the new technology could effectively solve the company's cooling difficulties by absorbing most of the heat generated by processors and converting it into a source that would reduce or even eliminate the need for a high-capacity battery in laptops, according to Electronista.
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If they can get this to be efficient, I'd be all over it...though I'd miss the heated keyboard and lap warming features of my MBP :-)
Assuming that this process is limited by the Carnot efficiency, its best use would be to recover the heat generated by the processor with with heat recovery unit replacing the fan. The maximum theoretical efficiency would be given by eff= (Th -Tc)/Th where Th and Tc are the absolute temperatures of the hot processor and cool room, respectively. With the temperatures involved, I don't see an efficiency large enough to payoff the added cost of the unit.
Makes it sound as if Macs are total crap when you throw out a statement like this; don't all laptop makers . . . all struggle--?