cooler

[xwrench3]

can someone explain to me how these work? i do not need an engineering type explanation, but i would like to know more than "you hook up the wires to power and it cools''. and if they are by themselves enough to cool a cpu?'''

[MimigaKing]

10 minutes ago, xwrench3 said:

can someone explain to me how these work? i do not need an engineering type explanation, but i would like to know more than "you hook up the wires to power and it cools''. and if they are by themselves enough to cool a cpu?'''

Heat generated by the electrical current going through the CPU is transferred to the heatspreader plate that is affixed on top of it. Then that same heat is transferred to the heatsink of the cooler. The heatsink itself is transferring it's heat to the air that touches it. But it isn't enough to cool it down enough, hence the fan(s) that are connected to it are for. The fans makes the air move around the heatsink and lower the temperature much more than without. 

 

The fan itself wouldn't be enough to cool down the CPU because it's too small. The heatsink increase drastically the amount of air that touches the source of heat

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

[another random person]

7 minutes ago, xwrench3 said:

can someone explain to me how these work? i do not need an engineering type explanation, but i would like to know more than "you hook up the wires to power and it cools''. and if they are by themselves enough to cool a cpu?'''

 

apply thermal paste

 

you screw the cooler into the mobo on top of the cpu

 

plug the cord from the fans into the cpu fan socket

 

BOOM you installed a CPU cooler and yes it can cool the cpu by itself

 

[xwrench3]

@5.8 amps, its not terribly efficient is it? i looked around for more of them, there are quite a few sizes and amp loads available. the fact that you can use them as heaters as well as a cooler is interesting. i can see a lot of uses for them. but their inefficiency is going to limit their application.

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, xwrench3 said:

@5.8 amps, its not terribly efficient is it? i looked around for more of them, there are quite a few sizes and amp loads available. the fact that you can use them as heaters as well as a cooler is interesting. i can see a lot of uses for them. but their inefficiency is going to limit their application.

Wait, what? Are you talking about heatsinks for computer hardware or something different? When you talk about amp loads and using "them" as heaters, I would say we aren't talking about PCs anymore.

[xwrench3]

crap! i forgot to load the link to what i was talking about!   this, is what i was asking about, sorry for the confusion!  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4GY0FC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=V3IB2RLJQMJ1&coliid=I1JTABIAZUZQ5P 

 

it can heat or cool, depending on how you wire it.  i can think of several uses for them. but they really are not very energy efficient for some of the things i could use them on.

[LogicalDrm]

16 hours ago, xwrench3 said:

crap! i forgot to load the link to what i was talking about!   this, is what i was asking about, sorry for the confusion!  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4GY0FC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=V3IB2RLJQMJ1&coliid=I1JTABIAZUZQ5P 

 

it can heat or cool, depending on how you wire it.  i can think of several uses for them. but they really are not very energy efficient for some of the things i could use them on.

Thats peltier cooler. I'm not really that familiar with principle of it working. I just know it uses electricity to transfer heat from place A to place B. I have mini fridge using one.

[Jonathan Lemmens]

If you want to know exactly how it works, read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

 

TLDR: Because of the materials it's made from, when DC current flows through the device it draws heat from one side of the plate to the other, thus cooling one side and heating the other.

One important note if you want to use this for CPU cooling: a Peltier module like this can only cool one side by an amount (roughly) equal to the amount of heat it's able to dissipate on the other side. In other words you still need to fit a beefy heatsink on the hot side of the Peltier in order to effectively cool your CPU.

[xwrench3]

so for maximum efficiency, it needs to have a heat sink on one side., and a way to collect heat (or disperse cool) on the other. right? i bet it would work great as a water cooler in something like an old coca-cola water bath cooler. place a few of them on the metal bottom, fill with water, and have large heat sinks with a large computer fan blowing across them.  if they were more efficient, they would be great in battery powered heaters and coolers for many, many things. 

[Jonathan Lemmens]

10 hours ago, xwrench3 said:

so for maximum efficiency, it needs to have a heat sink on one side., and a way to collect heat (or disperse cool) on the other. right?

Not just for maximum efficiency, it is a requirement. If the module cannot dissipate the heat, it will not cool the other side and if there is a CPU "heating" the cold side, it will burn the peltier module. 

Edit: it doesn't need to collect heat on the cold side in order to work. The cold side is the "product" of this device, the hot side is "waste" you need to get rid of.

10 hours ago, xwrench3 said:

i bet it would work great as a water cooler in something like an old coca-cola water bath cooler. place a few of them on the metal bottom, fill with water, and have large heat sinks with a large computer fan blowing across them.  if they were more efficient, they would be great in battery powered heaters and coolers for many, many things. 

This technology is actually widely used in things like mini-fridges and battery powered coolers. There are lots of vids on youtube from people DIYing something like this too. If you want to do this, be sure to get the math right though. You can fry these peltier modules quite easily if they draw too much current (amps) or when they get too hot. Mind you, I don't think these modules are submersible though.

 

Another thought if you want to use this for your CPU: make sure to take the proper anti-condensation precautions around the CPU socket. When your CPU is running idle, it's likely the peltier will cool it to below ambient temperatures. 

[xwrench3]

6 hours ago, Jonathan Lemmens said:

Another thought if you want to use this for your CPU: make sure to take the proper anti-condensation precautions around the CPU socket. When your CPU is running idle, it's likely the peltier will cool it to below ambient temperatures. 

my CPU is a new (6th gen) Intel i5. which is a lot more efficient that some of the older models. the stock heat sink works very well on this, even under a benchmark test. the hottest it got to was 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  and it was back down to 80 degrees in less than 15 seconds. probably faster. i did not have a stopwatch on me at the time. no, my thoughts are not geared at computer parts. more towards sporting goods and outdoor products. maybe even slide over into prepping.