THE frustrations of working on a slow computer may finally go the way of the dinosaurs if an internationally-recognised Curtin University research project becomes a commercial reality.

For the past three years, Curtin’s Associate Professor Tilak Chandratilleke, senior lecturer Dr Ramesh Narayanaswamy and PhD student Dr Deepak Jagannatha, all from the Mechanical Engineering faculty, have been working on a method of cooling computer microprocessors using a series of fluctuating, or pulsing, airflow jets.

Pulsing air jets may enable cooling of future supercomputers / Image: Istockphoto

In simple terms, the velocity of the airflow released by the jets acts to quickly break up the boundary layer of heat within a heated object, in this case the computer’s main chip.

This layer is usually only millimetres thick and holds all the chemical “events” for the device being cooled.

When the boundary layer is broken and the excess heat removed, the computer can be significantly cooled down and its operating speed increased.

Professor Chandratilleke said the comprehensive project has already been proven through experimental and computational simulation, and associated research papers have been recognised by international science journals and industry conferences.

“Today’s computers are being packed with more and more features and with that, comes an enhanced degree of heat generation,” he says.

“Computers of 10 years ago generated very little heat but as we create more powerful machines with more microchips in the one component, that is all changing.

“At the same time, computer manufacturers want to get rid of as much heat as possible from the surface of their equipment but they are realising that much of the current cooling techniques will not be adequate in the future.”

He believes pulsing jet technology will offer more advantages than conventional methods.

“Pulsing jets provide much more efficient cooling than standard continuous jets which do not fluctuate,” he says.

“And unlike standard jets which discharge their fluids into the atmosphere, the fluid that is used in our jets is eventually drawn back into the unit, meaning that no additional fluid circuits are required.

“This is beneficial environmentally and from an energy conservation aspect.”

Professor Chandratilleke says the project will continue to evolve as his team considers possible limitations in the application of the technology and improved uses, such as multiple-jet arrangements.

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