Asetek Debuts Powerful Ingrid Liquid Cooling Platform As Its Old AIO Patent Expires

After enjoying the success of its broad closed-loop cooling (CLC) patent for around 15 years, which expired on May 6, Asetek sent its engineers to the drawing board to come up with a new design to license to partners. In good Danish fashion, the new CLC design is called Ingrid, and its features are quite promising.

First, Asetek claims the new design is quieter than any of its previous offerings. This comes by way of a new pump and impeller assembly that is better balanced to reduce vibration, which also eliminates high-pitch resonance, a common artifact in CLCs.

The Danish company also claims the new design can handle "at least" 400W, though it didn't specify which size radiator that would require. Nevertheless, it's quite an impressive figure for an all-in-one solution. Besides the usual CPU temperature sensor, there's a liquid temperature sensor incorporated as well, that can be used to ramp up the pump speed once the figure goes over a certain threshold. The temperature telemetry data can also be collected, as an optional feature for manufacturers.

Another interesting aspect is the fact that Ingrid can be mounted in many positions and still operate properly: the orientation can be any of 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock, making installation easier for both system integrators and home builders. Asetek says the new pump has an integrated retention system with simplified mounting that requires only 3 steps to set up/

Ingrid is immediately available for use by partners as well as system integrators, and will be offered in Value and Mainstream lineups.

Asetek needs Ingrid to succeed. The company's recently-expired, broad patent, which covered common and/or obvious design features, stymied progress in the CLC arena and forced most every other manufacturer to come up with suboptimal solutions. With that particular shackle gone, expect to see many new and unique CLC designs from an array of manufacturers.

Now Asetek's cash cow is gone, that company's hand is being forced, though the it certainly has been preparing for this moment for a good while. Last month, Tom's reported that Asetek had an entity interested in a buyout, and that potential partners had also approached Asetek for data center cooling needs, potentially signaling an exit from the consumer space or at least an expansion of its product offerings.