Cooling Radiator Shroud Question... Construction.

Hello all again.

I am about to drive into my next major project here on bit-tech and this time it is going to be a watercooled computer. I am planning on custom mounting the radiator and I want to build a mounting bracket, and shroud in one.

I am a little confused on the way the fan mounts to the radiator/shroud. I am going to be ordering the radiator soon and want to start thinking of the shroud. How does the shroud work, benifit the cooling of the radiator, noise level? How does it work to do that? Are there any prefered ways to build the shroud?

Also one more question, should the fan push in, pull through or both?

Thanks as always

 

Making a mounting bracket with integrated shroud is indeed the most elegant way if you can do it. How you attach the fan and shroud depends on the rad really. Most rads will have mounting points for fans, and it is best to use those to attach the shroud as well.

The reason for a shroud is as follows: a fan has a dead spot at its centre (its hub) where it does not draw air. Mounting a fan right on top of the radiator therefore means that some of the rad surface (about 11%) is not exploited as no air is drawn through that part. Mounting the fan at a distance of the rad prevents that. It also suppresses turbulence and therefore noise.

There are no preferred ways of building a shroud except that it obviously should encompass the whole rad surface and should have no gaps. The shroud should distance the fan from the radiator by at least one inch.

The fan should always draw ("pull") air through the rad. People offer many explanations why it should pull, push or both, but in the end controlled tests have found that pull works better than push, and push-pull has only marginal benefits over pull alone.

 

Thank You, that helps alot. I am going to then work on a design for the radiator shroud.

Here is what I came up with

​

Completely Designed and working together feasable...

 

That works OK. You don't need the cover over the fan (except for aesthetic reasons). I assume that the two holes in the top of the shroud serve to let through the tubing connecting to the rad barbs. If that is the case make sure you use rubber grommets to seal the gap between the tubes and the shroud. The shroud needs to be more or less airtight to maintain efficiency.

 

you could save yourself a little trouble (although the design graphic was rather pimp...) and shroud just the finned area of the core like this:


or, if you want something that is a little more time-consuming to build, an outer enclosure that houses the core and a venturi shroud can also work:

 

Thanl you nice pictures...

 

I should have a guide for my shroud up soon on www.gurureview.co.uk



might be helpfull

'doc

 

Very nice, can you send me a direct link, I can not seem to find out anything from the link you sentl...

 

It's not up yet, but will be soon, hopefully going to write it today.

'doc