Interesting. So it's not actually solid state. It uses piezo vibration to create airflow. It's still got moving parts. But it's much thinner than a traditional fan.
Really solid state active cooling would be something like a peltier element which are really inefficient and could cause condensation. I don't think they have been used in off the shelf PCs for those reasons though hobbyists have certainly made builds with them.
Piezo actuators are solid state devices, though the definition can get hazy. The biggest issue with heat pumps like TECs is that you’re always paying the entropy price so you need more energy to move energy. But you also need a thermal sink somewhere to remove the generated heat. Ends up being a vicious loop for electronics.
The actuator perhaps but the wiggling thing attached to it that moves the air? I don't think that's solid state? If it were you could even call a fan solid state.
I don't know, but the filtration media that goes into consumer products that filter dust from indoor air last about 5 years before they need to be replaced. Many of those products use HEPA filters, which get all of the dust out of the air that passes through them, and even those last 5 years.
I have once serviced a PC that had been running for about 9 years as a fax receiver. The inside was literally like a block of dust. Every available space had dust in it with the consistency of a pillow.
I serviced it because the PC refused to boot :') Once I removed all the dust and reseated all the boards it worked fine for several more years :)
This. Sysadmins have air compressors for agood reason. A surprising proportion of the job is janitorial. Remember the famous bug that caused an error? Dust and cat hair are a much bigger problem than insects. Airflow obstructions are the number one killer of PCs and servers.
I've used earlier versons of this kind of thing from Zotac that were not bad but the Asus PN 5X series (entirely passively cooled) is enough better that I wouldn't go back. This new line would have to be somewhere south of $200 to make me think of using it in future builds.
I have two PN5x and I’m quite happy with it. I only opened it twice. Once to assemble and 1 year later to check how much dust accumulated inside. Surprisingly not much.
The manufacturer claims 4.25W of net cooling (5.25W cooling, 1W power consumption) for the Airjet Mini, and 8.75W (10.5W cooling, 1.75W power consumption) for the Airjet Pro.
I buy mini PCs, and I've rejected mini PCs in the past for being too heavy, particularly, the Akasa fanless cases for Intel NUCs where the entire case is made of aluminum and functions as a heat sink.
(The weight matters because I commute with my mini PC.)
Tangential question, but is this going to annoy dogs?