Hacker News Reader

Is this mostly datacenter tech or something that might end up in consumer desktops etc? I've certainly never heard of alternative cooling tech beyond aluminum or maybe copper heatsinks so definitely interesting. Makes sense in DCs certainly given large scale cooling costs.

View on HN

The issue I see here is that it depends on some humidity in the air, which DCs usually try to avoid, and homes can vary in.

> The system is self-refilling, too: it can recharge its cooling capacity by absorbing moisture from the air.

Unsure if this recharge cycle happens in batches (requiring downtime/throttling) or acts continuously, but I have a hard time believing the latter.

When cool it absorbs water. When hot it desorbs water. So you would need to idle or throttle. So some sort of “turbo boost duty cycle” sort of thing.

The data centers that I have been around have had humidifiers included in the HVAC system to prevent the air from being too dry. Static electricity is a problem when the air is too dry.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com