Sorry for my bad english Well.....im planning to build a custom case and maybe a custom reservoir. First things first. My case should be like a watermill and what do watermills have...right, a whater wheel (and in this case its not just decoration, but part of my water cooling circuit). So before i start sketching there is the question for the right material for my wheel. Should i use acrylic (like for the rest of my reservoir) and maybe paint it with waterproof colour or to be more "realistic" use some impregnated wooden parts.
I suppose it depends how realistic you are planning on making the final case. An all plastic version would look futuristic and 'clean', but one incorporating wooden parts and a more scale-realistic finish would look great too. Depends what your vision for the whole thing is really...
Hope you would implement dual loop for your res.. I mean, one loop using real PC coolant and other loop using just plain water. The case would be cooling the real pc coolant with plain water. OR if you prefer watermill you pc coolant? wood with coating would be best.. dark colored wood (with dark clear wood coating paint).
So....i try to make small and fast picture (paint rocks ) to describe roughly how it could look like Well....dimensions are off, but my idea is as follows: The coolant will flow on a slope (if the exit is directly above the slope or somehow on the side will be worked out). From slope it will flow on the wheel. Both wheel and slope are made of wood. And from the wheel it will flow directly to my reservoir (made out of acrylic for better possibilities for connections) and from there back to the pump. Now I don't know....will such a open system cause much trouble for a coolant circuit. If yes I would make a closed reservoir nearly completely out of acrylic and only the wheel out of wood. I don't think that this way there would be any problems with the tightness
I was thinking more about how the whole case will look, and how this fits in with the theme... An open reservoir is no problem, you'd just have to top it up occasionally due to evaporation. Also consider that a small wheel with a reasonably high rate of flow will result in the wheel spinning quite fast and water splashing everywhere, so the wheel needs to be well 'fenced in', not sitting above or level with the top of the reservoir.
Also worth remembering that splashing water creates a lot of noise, so you can't expect a silent build.
a mind calming noise, better than those Delta Fans @TheP, i dont know whether you read my comment above, but i suggest you use 2 loop with Heat exchengar between those loop. And you may use plain water as open system, open reservoir, watermill or even a waterfall as you wish. Without having coolant circuit problems but remember, moss love moisture.. you'll neet to shut sealed your PC to prevent high moisture level.. perhaps some silica gell are needed.. umm.. am I thinking too far?
Ok.... @SuicideNeil: The whole concept is, a case looking like some whatermill (with some nordic or asian touch). So a whaterwheel would fit nice to the concept. And the wheel would be a lot bigger then it look like on my fast scribbling. @jay2: if you can make a little sketch of how your circuit idea will work then i can understand more ( i can hardly imagine something from just words)
Ok.....read through many different sites, looked at some other custom reservoirs and came to one thing.....a completely closed one is the best thing. So the material depends on one thing...glueing. Is there a possibility to glue mdf on acrylic without any glue-traces left....this would be my slope. And the wheel would be hold by some sort of bearing. Well....if I use coated mdf (waterproof) then there would there be any severe problems if i use it in my cooling circuit?
not very pretty if you have a watermill inside a closed glass box.. it ment to be free w/o boundary MS. paint scratch, http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/33607313.jpg/ Please comment, i would like to know how can you understand my drawing..
Thanks jay. Now its a little bit clearer......but one "problem" (or just bad research) is left: what exchanger would u use for it? You have suggested to use one exchanger for both circuits, but all the exchangers i have found have one way in and one way out.
I would imagine the heat exchanger as being like a reservoir / water tank; the real coolant enters the tank through a metal tube which is a spiral, running top to bottom and then exiting again. The plain water fills the tank through the top and exits the bottom. The 2 circuits are totally separate so the coolant and water do not mix, but the coolant is able to shed its heat through the piping into the water, which then sheds its heat in a separate radiator that is connected to the water wheel & its reservoir. Rather complicated set up really...
Realy complicated ^^ Well....then i start sketching what is going to take a while and then i will see how i will solve this whole cray sh*t
Yup, that would be complecated and traditional.. And that kind of HE (heat exchanger) is expensive. Bending a copper tube into spiral or multiloop (radiator style) is not easy and require special tool. There are several other kinds of HE nowadays like Plate Frame HE and Shell Tube HE. But more complicated and more expensive. I believe there is no small size HE available for PC scale. Bad research try searching Plate Frame HE or Shell Tube HE. Dont blame me if i'm thinking cheapskately, Yes I'm Poor , but trust me, I'm engineer some ms.paint arts link You can build a water tank like an aquarium and use 2 (or more) Aluminium bottle as PC coolant reservoir. Just submerge your PC coolant res in that aquarium and you're done. Aluminium bottle can act as heat exchanger to transfer heat from PC coolant to water. And you can play with that water to create watermills or anything. I can imagine a more complex but beautiful design and post images for you, if only i can plug a thumb drive to my brain.
Jay2.....if you found a method to plug a drive to your brain....tell me, i need that too Well....as i said thanks for all those inspirations. How i will do it at last, will be worked out when i go to designing. And unless i cant get the design out of my head via pluging a drive to my brain, it will take some time -.- So, if its good enough i start posting it
