Influent | Technology in Motion

At the Hot Chips chip design conference at Stanford University last week, chip researchers spelled out some of the toughest computing problems of the future and the solutions to deal with them. Pioneers and visionaries talked about running into technological brick walls, and about ways to get around them. But they warned that the ever-increasing cost of making the newest chips will have an impact on the entire food chain of electronic products where chips are used.

Moore’s Law Slowdown — Researchers on a panel said they think that the law observed in the 1960s by Intel Chairman Emeritus Gordon Moore — who predicted accurately that chips double their chip capacity every 18 months — which has held true since the 1960s is past its prime. Now it’s getting harder and harder to deliver performance improvements without generating excessive power. The days of easy gains through manufacturing advances are coming to an end, and chip makers and designers have to turn to more exotic and creative techniques just to stay on the Moore’s Law treadmill. That means that it’s going to cost more money to make relatively modest gains in chip performance. With the current recession, that will just making things harder on chip makers whose ranks have thinned dramatically in the past few years. Here’s a comparison every gamer can understand: If Moore’s Law meant that chip capacity would double every three years instead of every two years, we would be stuck playing games on a device that was no more powerful than a Nintendo 64, a video game console that came out in 1996.

Read full article from VentureBeat -  The coolest and scariest things coming in the chip industry’s future.

SAN JOSE, CA – A thermal management hot spot, the mission of the IEEE Semiconductor Thermal Management, Modeling and Measurement Symposium(SEMI-THERM) is to provide an annual forum for the exchange of the latest technical developments in thermal management of electronic devices, components and systems. Held March 15th-19th, this year’s Semi-Therm features over 45 exhibitors and additional technical presentations on the latest thermal management progress in both academic and commercial sectors.

Semi-Therm Exibitors

Featured sessions include a luncheon hosted by Chandrakant Patel, Fellow and Director of HP’s Sustainable Ecosystems Lab regarding Sustainable Information Technology Ecosystems. Another highlight of the week, a tutorial from Kevin Skadron, of the University of Virginia, entitled Making Sense of Recent Research in Temperature-Aware Design.

Thermal Management Software Exibit

This is all well and good, but why am I here? I am serving as a representative of Influent while acting as a sponge, soaking up the thermal management community. I am truly interested to discover what makes this community ‘tick’. Everyone I meet seems extremely close-knit, aware of each other’s accomplishments and open to learning. I found myself giving a large amount of impromptu presentations about Influent’s technology and receiving very positive feedback. Many comments validated that the limitations of fans and other conventional cooling solutions and the need for a ‘new approach’ technology like Influent’s. I also ran across a particular vendor that could be a powerful partner for accelerating Influent’s modeling capabilities. MacroFlow would allow Influent to create system-level thermal design analysis without intensive CFD modeling, greatly reducing the lead time necessary when designing new components and products.

Attendance of Semi-Therm validates that this event is an ideal venue for Influent to become more involved. The conference draws the world’s most notable figures in thermal management and provides a forum to present new ideas. Look out for Influent’s exhibit next year!

We know the advantages of liquid cooling; it can extract more heat from cooled parts, which makes it ideal for handling issues like overclocking and it is less influenced by the ambient temperature. Liquid cooling is not limited to one component, so it can cool the CPU, GPU and other components simultaneously while creating relatively no noise.

Fujitsu’s LifeBook N7010

The appeal of liquid cooling has some OEMs working diligently to create a water cooling system that can fit into today’s average height profile, .7-1.5 inches. It seems the closest that anyone has come thus far is the Fujitsu LifeBook N7010. The laptop, which was reviewed by Engadget on Dec.15, didn’t exactly receive extensive praise. According to Thomas Ricker of Engadget, the laptop is full of compromises including its size, nearly 2 inches thick and 7 and half pounds in weight. The computer has only one hour of promised battery life. On the flip side it is packed with features like a digital television turner, 1.3 megapixel webcam, fingerprint scanning security, 4GB of memory, a 4-inch LCD touch screen along with other bells and whistles. Don’t expect to get your hands on a LifeBook N7010 if you live in the US, Fujitsu is only distributing this liquid cooled laptop within Japan.

Strides are being made to create a viable liquid laptop solution, but there is still no liquid pump on the market that can fit into an average laptop profile. The quest continues.

Though the price of oil has drastically declined over the past several months, the development of long term alternatives to gas powered vehicles is still in high gear. Electric vehicle (EV) companies are racing to take the market and promote the unique features of their products, but there are still some bumps in the road.

The development of EVs means that component level issues, such as the ability to cool car ‘hot spots’ must be integrated into the build. The power system for an electric vehicle (EV) consists of a motor controller, motor and energy source (e.g., battery). According to the CEO of an EV system company, these components all have huge issues with heat. These issues must be dealt with via a thermal management solution for EVs to truly become a viable option.

Joule

Despite this inhibitor, there are several EV companies that are preparing their products for launch. For example, Optimal Energy, a South African based EV company is débuting the Joule for purchase in the U.S. and Europe in 2010. Their competitive edge — ultimate customization for the greenest of consumers. According to VentureBeat, the electric Joule, an innately eco-friendly car comes with the option to integrate solar panels on the roof to help charge the car. The car is to have a range of almost 250 miles and top speed of about 80 miles per hour. The Joule is projected to cost $22,000 USD.

EV companies are highlighting unique and beneficial features to differentiate themselves from the competition, but an ideal thermal management solution could enhance the appeal of owning an EV. The range per charge could be extended even further, one of the top concerns coming from today’s potential consumer.

During our meetings with data-center companies, we have asked their take on the green data-center movement. A different kind of green is often emphasized—money.

Energy efficiency is one of the most sought after characteristics in computing. There are two reasons for this; first is the ability to create PR and influence public opinion and second is the need to create higher computing density without increasing energy costs. If a given device can make a data center 20% more efficient then the same center can offer 20% more computing power without adding additional costs. Although many data-centers are working hard to become innately more efficient, this often means using the same amount of power to do more work rather than a focus on overall power reduction.

Some purists might consider this not truly ‘going green,’ however using the same amount of power to produce more work is in fact the definition of efficiency. Being green only has upsides; you’re creating positive PR, saving money while creating greater computing power and did I mention helping the environment.

Check out a network of data-center companies that feel the same way. Visit Greengrid. A global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data-centers and business computing ecosystems.

What is it?

According to Neal Dikeman, creator of Cleantech Blog, “cleantech, also referred to as clean technology, and often used interchangeably with the term greentech, began in the venture capital community and has emerged as an umbrella term encompassing the invest asset class, technology, and business sectors which include clean energy, environmental, and sustainable or green, products and services”.

Nick Parker and Keith Raab, founders of the Cleantech Venture Network (now Cleantech Group), coined the term cleantech in 2002. The term has described “green and clean” technologies, particularly solar, biofuels, fuel cells, water remediation, and renewable power generation.

Where’s it headed?

I would like to suggest that a new trend is immerging in cleantech; a renewed focus on energy efficiency via hardware components for electronic devices and historical cleantech applications. These are the unsung heros of cleantech; the innovative garages that keep the big guys running. These hardware technologies are altering the landscape of cleantech, widening and redefining the definition to include all members of the supply chain.

This new momentum is being created by needs that are not being met by current solutions. According to Lee Bruno, a contributor to Venturebeat, computing density is driving server farms and other electronics to look for fan alternatives. New chips are expected to increase ten-fold in heat output over the next few years. Smaller hardware is required to do more work. A possible answer to this problem comes from a group of Purdue engineers that are designing miniature compressors and evaporators, which are critical for refrigeration systems. Their elastic membranes are made of ultra-thin sheets of a plastic called polyimide. And the plastic film is coated with a metallic layer that conducts electricity. When electricity is sent through the metal layer, the diaphragm can move back and forth to produce a pumping action researchers call “electrostatic diaphragm compression.” Development continues with this effort, but one can see that the heat problem is causing people to seek new solutions. A new standard thermal management system is needed that will create higher computing density, resulting in a greater level of efficiency from server farms to personal laptops.

Another example of a new hardware stems from the power consumption of data centers. According to Spansion CEO Bertrand Cambou, the data centers in the U.S. consume twice as much power as the collective solar footprint produces in the country. The only way to alter this statistic is to heighten the importance of energy efficiency at a product level. According to Greentech Media, Spansion wants to replace DRAM, the memory inside most servers, with a type of flash called EcoRAM. Spansion says that a data center based around the company’s flash costs 1/4th as much to operate, takes up 1/4th of the floor space and costs less than half of a traditional one because the chips use far less power and there is less need for air conditioning.

Just think if EcoRAM’s power saving product was paired with Purdue’s cooling solution. Now there’s some serious cleantech integration!