Water Cooling - Other Applications?

I hit the pool when the heat becomes a problem....

Does that count?

I suppose so, would you say that it makes you more efficient afterwards?

Well it definitely raises your energy level....

Sounds interesting! I didn't know I needed one. Please can you explain to a novice like me the pros of water cooling over air cooling. What does cooling the CPU down do for computer performance?

I'll let you know when I find out? This is actually my first use of liquid cooling, and I'm doing it more of a test than anything else. My main rig uses a typical copper heat sink with a mounted fan for air cooling, and that's all I really know.

A brief background:

Over time, I've upgraded and swapped out parts in my main machine. I couldn't bring myself to getting rid of the older parts, so I use them to build new machines that have slightly lower performance. Typically, I give out the old boxes to family members or friends that have prehistoric computers (yes, they've been around that long, don't question it), but I've decided to use this new build as a dedicated folding machine. The only heat sink I had laying around was a stock one that came with an AMD processor, so I decided to buy just a cooling unit for the machine. I managed to grab the aforementioned part while it was on sale, and the rest is history.

I know there are inherent risks of liquid cooling (leakage, clogging in tubes, the list goes on for miles), but I like to see things first-hand, so I'm giving it a whirl. Like I said, I just installed it last night, so I don't really have any benchmarks available to let you know if there was a significant increase in performance, but we'll see eventually!

Intel's i7 processors have what's called turbo boost. When it cranks in the processor temperature can go from 40° C to 75° C in an instant. At least it's what mine does. SMART list max temperature on mine at 100° C. I do notice it jumps from core to core. Which gives them time to cool down some. Water cooling mostly just helps to protect the processor from excessive heat. Gamers can push these temperatures even higher. With higher clock speeds which may run for longer durations.

Miller welders has liquid cooling, but thats where I has purchased two Miller Syncrowave 250DX Tig Runner welders

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/product.php?model=M15601

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/accessories/water_coolant_systems/

With a CPU, the most efficient way would be having the liquid coolant run through finned tubes and have air flow over the fins that actually would cool your CPU.

Do not know what temperature setpoints would be or how this would add efficiency though.

There are benchmarks posted all over the internet that either defend or attack how liquid cooling affects the core temperature, so it's kind of hard to answer your question. I'm mostly just curious to see the results myself first hand.

Well one thing that comes to mind is if you could run the liquid to an external radiator and fan setup, it would be a lot easier to clean....as it is now you have to take the shroud and cooling fins off to clean the whole assembly, which I probably do about every 6 mos or so....

Interesting you mention this- I have a Dynasty 200 with an air cooled tig torch; can't use it for over 125 amps for too long. So yes, load factor & usage for the design are definitely times where liquid cooling has advantages. Let us know how it works out Mizuti!

Water cooled condensers on A/c units are certainly more efficient, and smaller, and last longer....

Right, but you don't mention how this could help land based systems.

If you were to fabricate a heat transfer unit to take the heat away from your air conditioner you could send the heat to a larger heat sink, or a nearby river or pond (providing the pond / river was cooler than the ambient air). This would increase the effiency of your air conditioner and reduce the amount of power consumed to cool your house.

A much smaller application would be to do the same thing for your refridgerator in your home. Isolate the heat sink on the back of the fridge and design a heat exchanger in the shade outside of your home. This way you are not heating your home to keep your milk cold.

It would be a good idea to make this variable so you can change it in the winter when you want waste heat in your home.

Drew K

This of course is off topic but a little trivia.

The term air conditioner means that it conditions the air by removing the moisture..

Cooling the air is just a by-product.

Why not step up a notch:

Tim Taylor would be proud.

Mineral Oil Submerged Computer; Our Most ... - Puget Systems

My brother tried to coax me into building him something like this. Handling that much mineral oil. Ehhhhhh.... maybe some other time

Liquid cooled CPU are popular with gamers who like to overclock the CPU for faster processing and all that comes with that. Overcloccking increases the heating rate and so requires faster heat removal.

You won't notice any performance improvement as a direct result of liquid cooling or enhaced air cooling but it will stop your CPU from overheating if you do decided to overclock.

I looked into this as a project with my son and the risks of having plumbing leaking far outweighed any possible benefit.

A larger heatsink and more airflow is safer and just as efficient.

It does look "cool" though.

Check gaming websites for more info on this.

In datacentres liquid cooling permits denser packaging to preserve space, allows the heat to be transported and dumped outside and therefore saves on airconditoning costs.

Liquid cooling is widely deployed in high powered RF applications. eg TV broadcast.......

Mizuti,

I appreciate your inquisitive posts. Back in the 1980's, I knew people who had modified their home refrigerators to include a water jacketed heat exchanger, and used the hot water it produced to supply their home with virtually all its domestic hot water needs. Their work was publicly shared in the metropolitan KC MO area. I don't think this ever became a commercially-available item. However, it makes perfectly good sense and energy efficiency to grab the waste heat from one appliance and use it to supply desired heat in another. I do know that some geothermal HVAC systems have the option of supplying heat for domestic hot water use.

On another vein, I have also read about a working marriage of a clothes dryer drum and a dehumidifier. Instead of a one-pass system of air through a heater and then through the drum of the dryer before being exhausted, this system recycles the air through the dehumidifier. The filtered air goes through the evaporator to condense the water so it can be drained, and then through the condenser to warm it a little more. The relatively small amount of energy needed to run the dehumidification process is sufficient to raise the recirculating air temperature enough to properly actuate the "permanent press" properties in the clothes.

Imagine, a refrigerator that supplies all your home's hot water! Imagine a clothes dryer that requires less than 25% of the energy used by a conventional one! ...My friends stated decades ago that the government will not promote solar energy until they find a way to tax sunlight...

--JMM

Laptop computers have "wet backs" to conduct heat from the CPU to a small heat exchanger (radiator) for the fan to blow air through to better utilise the limited space inside the casing.

I still have an old (25yo++) Sansui audio amp that has liquid cooled PA FETs.

Why wouldn't you use a Peltier system? Since power is not an issue, it would keep the plumbing to a minimum. I would think it would be far easier to implement.

JWthetech,

A Peltier system is just another solid-state device, which will add its own heat load and be another item subject to overheating. The "wet back", "heat pipes", and similar are all passive systems (more or less) with a lower probability of failure.

--JMM

True, but it moves the heat from the processor to somewhere else.