Data centers consume huge amounts of energy - around 40 percent of it for cooling the microprocessors alone. New cooling methods using ionic wind could drastically reduce energy consumption. These use electrostatic fields to convert electrical current directly and energy-efficiently into a stream of air. The low speeds of the generated airflow have so far prevented widespread use. Now the Empa spin-off "Ionic Wind Technologies" has achieved a breakthrough: Their airflow amplifier accelerates - thanks to novel electrodes combined with a flow-optimized housing shape - ionic wind much more strongly than before. If, for example, conventional fans in data centers were replaced by their patented technology, up to 60 percent of cooling energy could be saved.
At the heart of the patented airflow amplifier for ionic wind are so-called needle electrodes. These generate ionic wind much more efficiently than the wires previously used. But that's not all: the needle tips are installed in a housing that makes use of the Coandă effect. This fluidic principle is also used in aircraft wings or Dyson fans - it uses local pressure differences to multiply the volume of air flows.
