The future of portable tech: Solid-state fans

The biggest reason behind mobile technology being limited in size and performance is the inability of manufacturers to cool hardware appropriately. Every portable device on the market is either horribly underpowered or larger than necessary. This is because most gadgets with acceptable specs need large fans and heat sinks to keep them from burning through your lap.

Nowadays, if a manufacturer wants to cool something down, they smack a fan on it and call it a day. Not only do these fans move minuscule amounts of air, they’re large, waste battery power, and have a limited life-span.

The new, tiny, solid-state fan from Thorrn Micro Technologies uses similar principals as those ionic air purifiers. Basically, the fan emits ions that create an electric field which then pushes air molecules. I was a little skeptical at first, however, the fan can reportedly move air at up to 2.7 meters per second, whereas regular mechanical fans in portable electronics only push about .7-1.7 meters per second.

Research and development of the SSD fan has already been completed and it is now being prepared for marketing to computer manufacturers; the people behind it are expecting to push these onto the market as early as next year. In other words, it may never happen.

Microchip-sized ‘fan’ has no moving parts