this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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Technology

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You know, I was just thinking that salt water is definitely what my last PC build was missing.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

That's what I thought too, but this system doesn't actually use salt water. It uses a membrane that's filled with lithium bromide (a "salt" in the chemical sense of the word), which absorbs moisture from the air while the computer is off and then is able to slowly "sweat" the moisture away while the computer is running. They say it can run for about 6.5 hours before needing to be recharged.

This is pretty cool for data centers which use massive amounts of power to keep everything cool, because it's passive and doesn't use any extra energy for fans or water pumps or anything. It really isn't all that great for consumer PCs though, because it's a lot easier to deal with waste heat.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (2 children)

data centers

recharge while the computer is off

I don't know of many data centers that don't run their servers 24/7

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Yeah I caught that too. That makes it a pro for personal computers and a con for data centers heheh

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

It's easy you just buy three times the current hardware, and just cycle it. Obviously that's more efficient. /s

[–] bob_omb_battlefield 26 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Wouldn't data centres not turn off though and therefore not be able to recharge?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Depending on how long it takes to recharge vs the discharge rate (it doesn't seem to mention recharge rate in the article) they may be able to shut down 25% of the cooling array to let it recharge while the other 75% picks up the load.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea 1 points 9 months ago

I wonder if they could just cycle the liquid out. Surely they could design something where 3/4 of the liquid is recharging all the time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I mean, scaled up could this help with home cooling?

[–] [email protected] 53 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

+33% cooling
+50% conductivity
+10 corrosion damage

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

„32.65% better performance“ compared to what? That article is utter garbage.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea 2 points 9 months ago

From the article:

chromium-based MOF

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

Because what goes better around electronics than conductive liquids?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

A silent, energy-free cooling solution that works for hours at a time? Sounds like it's perfect for military operations. Imagine the Boston Dynamics robots, but without the whirr of cooling fans.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Well that's pretty neato.