Active cooling

Active cooling refers to cooling methods that use an external energy input to increase heat removal from a system or component. In buildings and electronic equipment, active cooling commonly uses electrically or thermally driven equipment such as fans, pumps, heat pumps, air-conditioning systems and other forced-convection cooling devices.

Unlike passive cooling, which relies primarily on natural heat-transfer processes and building or component design, active cooling introduces mechanical or electrical input to increase cooling capacity. The additional cooling can provide greater temperature control, but it also introduces energy use, equipment cost and maintenance requirements.