![Every time a new gadget hits the market, we turn and check our pockets, wondering if this new fancy is worth the money that we’d […]](/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NEWSICON2-620x300.png "TECH TALK: Heating Up the Gadget World")
Every time a new gadget hits the market, we turn and check our pockets, wondering if this new fancy is worth the money that we’d spend on it. One selling point of many of the gadgets that we purchase is their size: they’re slimmer and more compact than ever before. However, this also comes with a dramatic down side – they heat up quicker and faster, which can lead to gadget failure. Definitely not more bang for your buck.
Phone manufacturers currently insert cooling fans and heat sinks to address the problem of overheating in various electronic devices. For many years, our inability to tackle this problem has held back the development of lighter and more powerful phones. However, a team of researchers at the University of Buffalo have recently described an ingenious and somewhat paradoxical solution to this problem.
Rather than aiming to cool the “guts” of smartphones and other portable electronic devices (such as laptops and tablets), the scientists instead manipulated “nano-transistors” which protect parts of these gadgets vulnerable to heat damage. This counter-intuitive strategy could pave the way for more powerful devices capable of withstanding high operating temperatures. Removing the expensive machinery currently needed to cool phones could also make devices of the future considerably cheaper and lighter.
Research had shown that today’s technology has the capacity to develop into even more powerful computers, fitted into just as small a space. Whilst it is unclear when these heat regulators will start appearing in our phones and laptops, this small solution could go a long way for the electronics of the future.
