Peltier cooling tips or thoughts?

[GzeroD]

So I'm very close to starting assembly of the project

 

I  decided to re-apply the Intel heat spreader as finding a robust enough mounting solution was proving to be difficult. I will be lapping it to smooth out the subtle curve that is on it so it will make better contact with the peltier.

 

I Just need 1 more piece. a Copper shim/ block to intercace between the TEC and the water cooler. I failed to take into account the difference in the waterblock and the Peltier chip.

The waterblock misses the last say quarter or eighth of an inch on the edge so the center of the chip is getting cooled well but the edge heats up very quickly because it is not being cooled by the water loop. 

I'm thinking about getting a 2.2inch square by quarter inch thick copper block to be the interface between the peltier and the cooling loop to prevent that outside edge from overheating and harming the peltier. I'm just wondering If anyone had any advice on anything better to use for this purpose. or a better source (I'll be using http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=21487&step=4&showunits=inches&id=966&top_cat=87)

[spwath]

This is really not a sustainable way of cooling a CPU. The amount you will pay in terms of power to keep the CPU cool is ridiculous. Its like running an extra 200W heater in your room constantly, no matter if your PC is idling or not. If you control the output it can be used, but again, you have to deal with the peltier's heat on top of your cpu's heat. Peltiers have been used in commercial coolers before. The Coolermaster V10 comes to mind. If you want a long term, sub-room temperature solution, look into phase change coolers.

Wait v10 doesn't have a peltier does it???

[Ghost]

Wait v10 doesn't have a peltier does it???

http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/v10/

 

TEC = Thermoelectric Cooler = Peltier

 

You can see it on the lefthand side of the cooler with two wires coming out in the massive picture you quoted.

[Benji_w]

Wait v10 doesn't have a peltier does it???

 

Yeah essentially it was directly on the heat pipes IIRC so it cooled things down that way. Man feel like so long ago that though!

[weapy]

 

This is fun to watch as he take the V10 apart.

GzeroD Please note that cooler master here use a thermometer sensor and a control board to pulse the peltier only when needed.

One of the problems with the peltier heat pump is that if you fail to cool the hot side there is no cold, but the opposed that the cold is getting hot too (and burn in the end). So what you want, especially if you use a small air cooler, is to pulse on the peltier for a short period of time, and let the air cool it, then turn it on again.

This way you save on electricity over time and if you keep it just a few degrees under ambient temperature there is no condensation to worry about.

[GzeroD]

 

This is fun to watch as he take the V10 apart.

GzeroD Please note that cooler master here use a thermometer sensor and a control board to pulse the peltier only when needed.

One of the problems with the peltier heat pump is that if you fail to cool the hot side there is no cold, but the opposed that the cold is getting hot too (and burn in the end). So what you want, especially if you use a small air cooler, is to pulse on the peltier for a short period of time, and let the air cool it, then turn it on again.

This way you save on electricity over time and if you keep it just a few degrees under ambient temperature there is no condensation to worry about.

I already planed to have a thermometer and controller to controller the temperature. As far as keeping it near ambient i would rather not, bring on the condensation and the extra cold . The thermostat is only there to make sure the hot side doesn't get too hot.

 

Right now I'm being held up because I cant seem to get a good piece of copper to adapt the Block that came with the apogee XL that the  h240 x came with to the hot side of the peltier (the swiftech block has a much smaller contact area).. I'm thinking about picking up an older block with a larger base and less centralized heatfins just need to find one with a foot print of larger than 50mx50mm  (preferably around 55mmx55mm) 

[GzeroD]

So I've been cheating on you guys with another forum. It was explained to me that direct die to peltier mounting would be an issue unless i used a copper block about a cm thick. Not pleased with this I've decided to ignore the nice peopel who know what their doing and ordered an old server Vaper chamber cooler that ill remove the fins from and place the peltier directly on that.

 

Now I still need to find a waterblock that will cool the entire hot side of the Peltier I have now. So if anyone knows of a copper waterblock with a 50mmx50mm base contact area that would be great. 

[weapy]

you can find them cheep on ebay, but you complicate things a lot to cool the hot side with water. Is hard to imagine, what you have there can you make some pictures of the "old server Vaper chamber" that you have? And what amps you have on peltier?

[GzeroD]

Vapor Chamber was a bust. ( would bend or collapse at the pressure I needed to mount things down with.

 

But

 

 

 

I have altered my design accordingly.

[GzeroD]

 

 

Broke my thermostat (20Amps my ass) so I cant install it in the system yet.

This is as cold as it got while testing it without a load and with no fans on the radiators because... reasons. 

[GzeroD]

 

Seems if I let the system run at -3c or lower  (best temp so far is -6c) for too long the Peltier block freezes up and because it is so well insulated it wont thaw before the system thermal shuts down.

There is already antifreeze in the loop; might need a higher concentration.

 

Have not booted into windows yet; not expecting sub 0 load temps.

[GzeroD]

 

Well its up and running condensation is under control but it is not a good looking solution I may need to do this with hard pipe so I can make some cleaner tubing runs so I can put some hard insulation in it.

Operation internal water chiller is Active.

[GzeroD]

Oh ya if anyone was wondering a peltier can boil water.

 

Also this is how it currently looks; I hope to clean everything up eventually.

 

[W-L]

Oh ya if anyone was wondering a peltier can boil water.

 

Also this is how it currently looks; I hope to clean everything up eventually.

 

-PIC-

 

Oh it's setup as a watercooling loop with a cold side and hot side  , Nice temps BTW

[GzeroD]

Oh it's setup as a watercooling loop with a cold side and hot side  , Nice temps BTW

Ya there are 2 loops 1 with a pump the cold sife of the peltier and the cpu waterblock and the other with the 3 rads ( single 120,triple 120, and double 140) to keep the hot side of the peltier cool.

had to do it like that because I didn't want the hot water getting back to the cold side of the peltier ; I also didn't want to need to put insulation on all of the tubing because the temp goes right down to freezing at idle.

[Zyphron]

that is really rough looking BUT it works right? that's whats important here...

way back in the Days of Netburst P4's I had a Pelted 2.8 Northwood

I used the Onboard motherboard fan controller set to just above 75F @100% to Cycle a Relay for the pelt.Power to the relay. Pelt Kicked on.  no power pelt turned off 

1/2 Inch cold plate on a DD maze 4 Waterblock Smoothed out the Fluxes from Off/ON 

 

this was 2003? ish I didn't need anything for my Mobo or Coatings and Extra Insulation.  just a Simple 15 amp relay wired into the Section of  the PSU's 12v line I was using.
it was REALLY simple. Keeping in mind my pelt was 130 watts max. and my PSU was a 610Watt  PCP&C with perhaps 350 watts System load total? so there was no 2nd PSU in the system. and Also, that PSU is still hanging around... in a AMD Phenom 865 system Runs Every day.... Tough Thing...

OC'd the 2.8 to just shy of 3.6 Ghz. 1-2 c Above Ambient..... Always