"Do piezoelectric fans count as being solid state too, then?"
Not in my book. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear "solid-state" and "cooling" in a sentence is "peltier element". The name "AirJet" gave it already away though, that this is likely something different.
> The name "AirJet" gave it already away though, that this is likely something different.
They mention that those are MEMS membranes in the presentation [1]. But it also sounds like Airjet developers (or marketers) count MEMS membranes as solid-state, and piezoelectric fans as not, while I wonder where the line is.
> "They mention that those are MEMS membranes in the presentation [1]."
This video was really insightful, thanks. Especially interesting was, that they use an effect called jet impingement that is also used in jet engines.
> "But it also sounds like Airjet developers (or marketers) count MEMS membranes as solid-state, and piezoelectric fans as not, while I wonder where the line is."
I think I can imagine where this distinction comes from. MEMS devices can usually be manufactured in facilities and with materials and processes very similar to those used for producing semiconductor chips like processors. Piezoelectric elements, on the other hand, require special materials and their production doesn't fit very well into the common semiconductor manufacturing process. Now, the step to call everything traditional semiconductor industry related "solid-state" is not that big.
Well for electronic components your basic three chioces for states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas.
Silicon crystals are naturally solid-state, car batteries and most can capacitors are liquid-state with their electrolyte, leaving many vacuum tubes no other choice but to be gaseous-state.
Now these air chips don't have any electrolyte so that rules out liquid, and all the components are solid materials so the component itself is actually solid-state, and so are other MEMS devices, even though they have moving parts.
Like an electric motor which is just iron, copper, and steel, a key solid-state electrical component.
> "Well for electronic components your basic three chioces [sic] for states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas."*
Three states of matter is basically a fairy-tale we use as a first, easily understandable basic working model of matter. In reality there are so many states that Wikipedia has a dedicated page to list them: "List of states of matter" [1]
This is also the reason why every physicist cringes when the usual popular science mags announce the discovery of "a fourth state of matter" about once every year.
> "Silicon crystals are naturally solid-state"
Solid room temperature silicon can be in a crystalline state or an amorphous state. While amorphous silicon may appear solid it has many properties of a liquid and thats where the word "liquid" in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) comes from. So, its not that easy.
There are probably transition states that are still to be identified.
I'm trying to narrow it down to the obvious choices ;)
Physicists are the experts on this kind of thing and I just go along with the choice they made when they started calling electronic components "solid-state" to begin with.
That sounds completely wrong? We don't consider hard drives or fans "solid state", even though they're not liquid or gas. The difference between what's considered "solid state" and what's not seems to mostly be in whether the component has major moving parts.
"Solid state" in this context is used to include SSDs but exclude HDDs. The definition you use which considers HDDs "solid state" is not the definition that's relevant to this discussion. The physical state of matter doesn't determine whether a component is "solid state" in this context.
In my lifetime, "solid-state" first referred to "built with transistors rather vaccum tubes", where vacuum tubes are not 'solid' because their insides include a partial vacuum and transistors are 'solid'.
Extending "solid-state" to mass storage devices that have neither a rotational device nor the necessary internal gap (air or partial vacuum) for either rotation or actuators feels natural…to me.
Then a solenoid with a piece of membrane over it would also be solid state.
Why stop there, a servo with a piece of membrane would also be solid state.
Why stop there, a motor with a membrane..
This definition makes no sense to me.
The above are electromechanical parts. Piezos are somewhat an exception because electricity directly leads to a parts deformation without magnetic field moving a component of that part in an electric field. In fact a piezo is just one part with two contacts.
>Then a solenoid with a piece of membrane over it would also be solid state.
>Why stop there, a servo with a piece of membrane would also be solid state.
>Why stop there, a motor with a membrane..
>Piezos
All Correct.
Even when they are electrically powered, hydraulic and pneumatic servos are not usually liquid-state or gaseous-state electrical devices except for any vacuum tubes or electrolytic components.
When the electricity flows only through solid materials like copper, carbon, or silicon, and doesn't (intentionally) flow across things like liquids, air gaps, or evacuated spaces, that's solid-state.
Says someone who incorrectly thinks "solid state" here refers to the state of matter and thinks anything that's neither liquid nor gaseous is "solid state".
"The first ever solid state thermal solution" "Inside AirJet are tiny membranes that vibrate at ultrasonic frequency"
How is it solid state if it has moving parts?