After replacing traditional hard disk drives with solid state ones, the only source of noise coming from a computer is the cooling fans. Seems the days of this particular part are numbered too since a new fan has been invented which has no moving parts.

Now a fan cools down by moving the air along, but this one nicknamed the RSD5 does the same by using electric fields to generate a plasma that can move air. The wires lie within uncharged conducting plates that are contoured into half-cylindrical shapes to partially envelop the wires. Within the intense electric field that results, ions push neutral air molecules from the wire to the plate, generating a wind. The phenomenon is called corona wind.

The result is a device that generates three times the air flow of a small fan at just a quarter of the size. The inventors expect self cooling chips to be created in the near future.

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