Electrostatic air filter for PC case

[Alec19]

Hello all,

 

I go to school in Wyoming which is very dusty so I have been thinking of ideas to keep dust out of my pc without obstructing airflow. I was wondering about making my own electrostatic air filter that is designed for a pc case. Would that type of filter actually be effective for a pc case? I do not have any experience with them, but I have seen some that don't appear to restrict airflow as much as a standard filter.

 

My other idea was to create an electrostatic precipitator that is designed for a pc case. I know that ESPs have a very high efficiency rating, but given that they use high voltage to attract the negatively charged dust particles, I suspect that it might not be practical for this purpose. Ideally it could be powered by my PSU, but 12 volts is quite not even on the order of magnitude of the voltage required for commercial applications. However, those commercial purposes are dealing with a lot more particles that are often moving much faster so maybe this could work. I will likely need to make a circuit that can increase the voltage, but I am not yet sure. Ideally I just want to clean the inside of my case less so I do not need a crazy efficiency rating.

 

Does any of this sound doable/reasonable?

 

-Alec

[Bitter]

I'm not sure that level of static inside a PC case is a good idea, maybe in the room with it is OK.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Cooling

[freeagent]

Sounds like a lot of work.

 

I would just use this:

 

DataVac Electric Duster - Better Than Compressed Air | MetroVac

[Alec19]

On 3/30/2021 at 10:47 PM, Bitter said:

I'm not sure that level of static inside a PC case is a good idea, maybe in the room with it is OK.

Despite the name of "electrostatic precipitator" this would not be static electricity. Static electricity is usually created as a result of friction. An electrostatic precipitator uses an electric current moving through an electrode to attract charged dust particles. Provided that it does not short into the case, it probably wouldn't cause any problems. The voltage would be way too low to create any sort of arc under normal conditions.

 

On 3/31/2021 at 11:08 AM, freeagent said:

Sounds like a lot of work.

 

I would just use this:

 

DataVac Electric Duster - Better Than Compressed Air | MetroVac

Wow that is expensive! Is that not just a fan with a nozzle? Also, yeah it probably would be a lot of work, but isn't that the best part. It would be cool if it works.

[Bitter]

I know what they are, I've had them in the houses I've lived in before. They generate can quite a bit of RFI and there certainly can and are stray charges in the air around them.