Cancelling Out CPU Fan Noise 507
Percy_Blakeney writes "After realizing how noisy his computer was, a professor at BYU has created a new CPU fan that uses small microphones and speakers to cancel out its own noise. It isn't perfected yet -- it only nixes the whine, not the whoosh -- but it looks like it could be promising, especially given the professor's background: making jet engines quieter."
This would be a lot more useful... (Score:3, Funny)
Huh. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Damned cars always trying to stalk and eat me.
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I should have patented it... (Score:1, Funny)
But if this guy can do it with 20 bucks it means that it's much easier than I though.
Either that or he's much smarter than you. Which I would imagine is the case if he's a professor at Boston...
How about cancelling out the noise from Lindon? (Score:1, Funny)
Hey Scott, please take a stroll northword toward Lindon, find the SCO campus, and do your magic.
Keep everything quiet (Score:5, Funny)
I have wondered if it was possible to do this in my house. Where I live there is a lot of people who like to scream at each other alot, and it rather gets on the nerves. It would be cool if you could record your neighbourhood noises, and instantly replay them out of phase into your living room. Presto. The beautiful sounds of silence.
Take out the fan, problem solved. (Score:0, Funny)
CPUs don't get as hot as they used to; the bits move much faster through today's processors as a result of lower overhead friction. Lower friction means less heat, less heat means no need for noisy fans. The fan blade and bearing industry would have you believe that your off-the-shelf PC needs several fans to keep cool but this is simply to prop up the illusion that your system is so powerful that it needs to sound like a jet engine (pun NOT intended) to demonstrate the raw power needed to cool such a strong processor.
- eT
It never ends though (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I should have patented it... (Score:5, Funny)
And I'm French, remember
Re:Mods... (Score:1, Funny)
Finally... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Negating Sound? Its like new cars.... (Score:5, Funny)
Alternatively instead of wasting all that money on a sound cancelling system you could just install hugeass speakers, sub and an enormous exhaust pipe, that way no-one will be able to even *hear* the engine noise over all that deafening dance music you'll be playing.
If you feel like it add undercar neons and go-faster stripes for extra style - they're guaranteed to bring the hot chicks from miles around.
Maybe not for fans (Score:2, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why go through all this trouble? (Score:5, Funny)
Wind tunnels... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Keep everything quiet (Score:5, Funny)
Could be a useful mute tool for the girlfriend when she goes on too long:
GOD, you're so inconsiderate, you never take my feelings into acco
*click*..........
Prior art? 'rev' (Score:3, Funny)
UOY RAEH TNAC I
Ah, the silence
Wow, imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
I must be retarded (Score:4, Funny)
Instead of all the research and electronics, I put a drop of oil on the axle and removed the dust from the blades with a q-tip. It's been silent ever since.
Silly me.
Re:It never ends though (Score:4, Funny)
Whinny noise? (Score:5, Funny)
Sommerfeldt set about to find a way to drown out the whinny noise from built-in fans that cool computers and other electronic devices.
Did he try a fan with less horsepower?
I've got more sounds... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Negating Sound? Its like new cars.... (Score:2, Funny)
there are lots of applications for this (Score:1, Funny)
Re:I've got more sounds... (Score:3, Funny)
Or maybe just give it a good hard whack.
Re:Absorbing technique instead (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I should have patented it... (Score:2, Funny)
I think what you're saying would be a good approximation if the distance between the two speaker diaphragms was much smaller than a wavelength of sound. In reality, the wavelength of audible sound is on the order of 10 cm, and although the distance between them may be somewhat less than that, it's still probably at least a cm or so. So here's the situation. The original speaker spews out sound in all directions, that sound has energy, and only some of that energy impinges on the second speaker. For the energy that impinges on the second speaker, it is at least theoretically possible for it all to be absorbed as mechanical work, and converted into heat and electrical energy. But the rest of the sound was radiated in other directions, and has existed for a millisecond or something now. If you cancel that sound, you're doing it "in flight," so there's no physical mechanism for expending it as mechanical work; it has to come off as radiated sound in other directions.
Then again, I could be totally wrong, like I was in my reply to your first post.
No testicles need to be wagered :-) :-)
Oh good -- I'll put away the exacto knife, then
Re:Negating Sound? Its like new cars.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It never ends though (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
I have a better and cheaper solution... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Keep everything quiet (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I have a better and cheaper solution... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Ears are sensitive indeed! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A Cheaper Way (Score:3, Funny)
Index Fingers: free
Veins and Arteries: free
Watching all of Slashdot sitting in a corner and sticking their fingers in their ears: Priceless.
Re:Nope (Score:1, Funny)
That's odd, I though Wil Wheaton posted on /. as CleverNickName.