PLANT-LIFE INSPIRES COOLING SYSTEM FOR FUEL CELL POWERED LAPTOPS OF THE FUTURE
09 December 2004 - Cambridge Consultants

A 2004 study titled 'Micro Fuel Cells' from leading analyst ABI Research estimates that the mass market acceptance of fuel cells in portable electronic devices will be in 2008, at the earliest. According to Atakan Ozbek, ABI Research's director of energy research, the market for fuel cell powered laptops will grow rapidly between 2008 and 2011, growing to a predicted 120 million laptops and a market worth $1.2 billion.

To reach these high growth projections it is essential that the manufacturers of portable devices and the developers of fuel cells improve the convenience of using fuel cell powered products and thereby speed market acceptance of this new technology.

The 'evaporative cooler' concept from Cambridge Consultants takes its inspiration from plants, which use microscopic openings called stomata to evaporate water, providing a capillary force for the distribution of nutrients and cooling the leaf surface. The concept developed by Cambridge Consultants is designed around a modular arrangement of aluminium fins with etched micro channels. The micro channels enable heat take-up and efficient fluid transfer to the evaporation surface, while the thermal properties of aluminium provide a highly conductive link between the electronic process requiring cooling and the evaporation surface, where heat is dissipated. The evaporation surface uses a porous mesh membrane, ensuring the even distribution of water and a large surface area for evaporation.

Johannes Hartick, head of Cambridge Consultants' Energy Systems group explains the benefits behind the evaporative cooler concept, 'As the processors in portable computers get more and more advanced they require more power and as a result they dissipate excessive heat. If fuel cells are going to reach their potential it is essential that we overcome obstacles to the adoption of this technology at an early stage.' He added, 'In testing we see that our evaporative cooler dissipated three times the amount of heat when compared to air cooling alone. This provides device manufacturers with many options when it comes to the cooling system, including the opportunity to reduce its overall size and impact on the end user, or provide space for increased features.'

During in-house tests the surface temperature of the evaporative cooler was compared with a conventional air cooler. The stabilised temperature of the conventional air cooler was an unsafe 74 degrees Celsius, whilst the innovative evaporative cooler maintained a much lower 47 degrees Celsius. Both coolers were of identical geometry and were operated under identical environmental conditions.

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