I was surfing the web and I had this idea to revamp my old water cooler in a PC i built like three years ago. I remembered coming across this can cooler device for a desktop that's supposed to chill a single can of a beverage . I read the specs which say it will do a temp of 7℃ or 47℉ Which is pretty good considering freezing point is 0. So 7 over is a nice temp for something as trivial as this. So I thought about how I could get that, something small, easy interface, being USB, into the mix and see if it would have any effect on the system. So then I saw this reservoir, and I looked at the piping, size, and fittings for it. So then I saw this reservoir, and I looked at the piping, size, and fittings for it. Now adding it to my system is gonna cause a bit of a bottle neck. A small bottle neck, but a break in the flow nonetheless. I figured it will give a chance, if a fraction of a second for the cold to catch on. I don't expect it to make a monumental difference, but at least drop a few degrees to help the cause. The bottom of the reservoir is machined metal, it's also where the fixings are attached. It transfers temp pretty nicely. I sat it on an ice block as a test within a couple mins it was cold. I don't expect the effect to be the same when it's operational as the water inside running is constantly being heated from the work of the cpu. In any case, anyone has any thoughts about it?
Interesting concept there. Since it might only be a few degrees, you may not have to be concerned with condensation. Of course that's just a guess on my part as I've never done any more radical cooling solutions.
Well it looks woefully underpowered, but an interesting concept at least. If nothing else you will have a res at hand.
If that thing uses a peltier or TEC then you're gonna have a large problem with keeping the other side of it cool...
It does, and since it's USB powered it only runs on 5v. Really if you want to improve the temperatures in your loop don't waste your money on this, instead add a radiator. TEC cooling does work but it tends to be fairly expensive and complicated.
The weak TEC in that cooler won't help you much, if at all. If you wanted to get sub-ambient, you'd need a proper chiller or TEC. Of course, like Rocket733 said you could just ad a rad and be happy with your couple of degrees drop in temps.
I have something similar to that too. It keeps your can cold if it is already cold, but it won;t cool it down well. Anyone have any idea of how to make it perform better?
Well, the USB connector carries a maximum of one watt of power. Obviously, the thing isn't drawing a full watt, since you have a keyboard and mouse and other stuff. And obviously the thing is not 100% efficient, so it's removing a fraction of a watt of heat. That's not going to do anything at all, considering a processor alone generates over 100 watts of heat. So, let's estimate that the USB thing is removing 0.5 watts of heat. You'd probably get better results by buying a gallon of de-ionized water, then taking an ice cube tray, and making de-ionized ice cubes, then dropping them in the reservoir every few minutes or so while gaming. Assuming an ice cube contains one fluid once of water, that's about 30mL. Water has a density around 1g/cc, so that's 30 grams of water. Water to ice is endothermic and has an enthalpy of fusion of 333J/g. So, when an ounce of ice at 273 kelvin becomes an ounce of water at 273 kelvin, something in the area of 10,000 joules are captured. Let's say that this takes 5 minutes (300 seconds) to melt. 10,000J/300s = about 33 watts of heat removed. In conclusion, dropping a 1 ounce ice cube into your reservior every 5 minutes = 33 watts cooled. Hooking up a USB thing = 0.5 watts cooled.
The way that cooler works is similar to a refrigerator, and the same reasons apply as to why it won't help cool your computer. They both use TECs, which are horribly inefficient at drawing heat away from continuous heat sources, like your computer. Like 500mph said, it works MUCH better at keeping something cold than making something cold, especially something that's making more heat continuously. This is also related to why people who use TECs to cool their PCs have to get separate power supplies to power their 437W TEC.
Uh oh...someone broke out the science talk! Don't let 'em discourage you! Go for it anyways. It is (in theory) a plausible idea. As long as you acknowledge that it will probably have no effect...then you won't be disappointed.
Bad idea. TECs unless implemented properly (and in that case result in expensive) are just not efficient at all.
I have one of those can chillers. It does helps keep a can chilled, but going from room temp to cold takes forever. But maybe making a copper water bock and attach a Peltier Junction on both sides and use that. Might get ice eventually.
