I don’t see the need particularly but my guess at the “big company” mentioned is Apple. They seem like the type to jump at the opportunity to use a new technology to make quieter and thinner laptops. They already make some laptops without any cooling fans despite how inadvisable that sounds.
I see no downsides to this tech compared to regular fans. These are quieter, smaller, and they’re unlikely to break.
The video also highlights the disadvantages compared to traditional fans:
- slightly less energy efficient
- weaker
- concerns about ozone
- concerns about attracting dust
Those are not disadvantages to apple, if anything, it makes the planned obsolescence an easy task. Gimme dat dust!
The video says ozone is addressed by a using a copper catalyst. It is slightly weaker and energy efficient, but as the video points out, it just means designing around it. The dust might be an issue, but given it’s blowing air out, I’d expect that kind of solves the problem.
It’s just about to happen.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/27/23975368/frore-airjet-apple-macbook-air-fanless-mems
They used to have this thing called the Ionic Breeze from the ‘as seen on TV’ brand Sharper Image. Pretty sure they went bankrupt, something about shoddy products and creating excessive indoor ozone as I recall.
This one addresses the ozone issue by using a copper catalyst.
Yeah I looked into those a little while back to see if there was an air filter product that didn’t constantly need fiber filter replacement. Turns out that ionizing air creates ionized air (ozone), which is bad to breathe.
