An innovative cooling solution could spell the end of laptop fans if it’s as effective as its developers suggest.
San Jose-based Frore Systems has developed a revolutionary new “cooling chip” that can be applied to provide superior and virtually silent cooling for everything from ultrabooks to VR headsets. This solution is not a passive cooling solution. Although no fans are used, these chips, called “AirJet”, provide active airflow by vibrating super-thin membranes inside the chip at ultrasonic frequencies to create air jets.
This process provides cooling by sucking colder air through tiny holes on the top surface of the chip and then spraying it into a narrow chamber on the bottom where it comes in contact with a heat spreader plate. The emitter absorbs heat from the cooled component (for example, the copper heatpipes attached to most laptop processors) and dissipates it through the AirJet’s internal airflow, expelling hot exhaust air from one end of the chip.
Even the best laptops can get annoying with fan noise under heavy load, and Frore System’s solution seems to be a candidate to completely eliminate this problem.
AirJet Mini and AirJet Pro
Available in two variants, the AirJet Mini and the larger but more powerful AirJet Pro, the technology is also claimed to significantly outperform traditional laptop fans due to the greatly increased air pressure generated by the small chamber inside the 2.8mm-thick chip.
According to the developers, the AirJet operates at 21 dBA. It’s quieter than a human whisper approaching the lower echelons of human hearing. For comparison, the average laptop fan produces over 40 dBA, while normal speech produces around 65 dBA. Also, the chip consumes very little power at just a single Watt for the AirJet Mini.
Frore System is currently working with Intel and its laptop partners to deliver a new laptop using AirJet cooling by the end of 2023.
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