The minuscule vacuum pump pictured here was developed at the University of Michigan and uses an array of tiny hexagonal compartments connected with even smaller channels to maximize their suction. It sadly can’t be used to clean up chip crumbs, but as a way to cool tiny electronics, it could revolutionize smartphones.
And this is actually one of the larger micro vacuums the researchers had created. Other examples are smaller than a dime, and the breakthroughs from this research could eventually lead to mechanical vacuums that exist on the microscopic scale, giving high-performance processors their own built-in cooling fans.
via Gizmodo
