Ionic Breeze for microchips

Researchers have shrunk Sharper Image's bestselling Ionic Breeze fan down to the microscale. Well, kinda. Purdue University engineers developed a tiny "ionic wind engine" to help cool computer chips. As processing power increases in line with Moore's Law, they also get much hotter. According to experiments, the ionic wind engine increased a chip's cooling rate by 250 percent. From a Purdue University press release:

The experimental cooling device, which was fabricated on top of a mock computer chip, works by generating ions - or electrically charged atoms - using electrodes placed near one another. The device contained a positively charged wire, or anode, and negatively charged electrodes, called cathodes. The anode was positioned about 10 millimeters above the cathodes. When voltage was passed through the device, the negatively charged electrodes discharged electrons toward the positively charged anode. Along the way, the electrons collided with air molecules, producing positively charged ions, which were then attracted back toward the negatively charged electrodes, creating an "ionic wind."

This breeze increased the airflow on the surface of the experimental chip.

Link

UPDATE: BB pal Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics writes, "Meanwhile, the architects at Solomon Cordwell Buenz have expanded Sharper Image's bestselling Ionic Breeze to macroscale, right alongside the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge. Well, kinda." Link