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Credit card-size cooler from GE is slim, silent

At half the thickness of existing fan-based computer-cooling solutions, General Electric's new system could find its way into laptops and tablets.

Vincent Chang
There are no fan blades on GE's cooler. GE

General Electric has developed an ultraslim cooling solution that could be used in laptops and tablets in the near future.

The cooler uses what GE calls dual piezoelectric cooling jets (DCJ for short). Unlike fan-based versions, which utilize spinning blades, the DCJ implementation is akin to mini bellows that suck in cool air and push out warm air.

As thin as a credit card. (Click to enlarge.) GE

GE touts its cooling solution as measuring just 4mm (less than a quarter of an inch), half that of existing coolers. It also runs more quietly without fan blades. These characteristics make such a system very desirable for ultraslim devices such as ultraportable laptops and tablets.

The technology was originally conceived to cool jet engines (CNET got an early look at piezoelectric technology two years ago at GE Research) but it seems the company has made much progress adapting it since.

GE has licensed the DCJ technology to Fujikura, a Japanese thermal-management company, but probably take a couple more years before the technology makes its way into retail products.

GE has made a video to show off the technology, including implementing it within an actual ultrabook. Catch the action below.

(Source: Crave Asia via ExtremeTech)