Raijintek Shows Off a Pumpless Liquid Cooling System

[DocSwag]

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10398/raijintek-shows-off-pumpless-liquid-cooling-system

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The prototype of Raijintek’s pumpless liquid cooling system is comprised of a completely passive CPU/GPU water block with a copper base (featuring a system of very thin channels to maximize heat dissipating surface area) with two nozzles of different diameter, two tubes as well as a radiator (images are byHermitage Akihabara). The LCS is filled with a customized coolant, which has evaporation point of around 40°C to 50°C. Once the CPU or the GPU gets hot enough, the coolant turns into vapor and streams to the radiator through one of the tubes where it condenses back to liquid, whereas the cool coolant streams back to the water block.

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Natural processes enable the circulation and the liquid cooling system is nearly noiseless (keep in mind that physical processes like water circulation create noises). In the best-case scenario, the higher is the temperature of the chip cooled down by such a LCS, the faster is the circulation. The theoretical limit of TDP that Raijintek’s prototype can handle is unclear, but different reports point to over 200 W, which is in line with traditional high-end and AIO liquid coolers. At Computex, the manufacturer demonstrated the prototype without any fans, but the radiator can be equipped with two of them to maximize cooling performance. While fans are not compulsory, there is a requirement, though: the radiator always has to be installed above the water block, which is something harder to do in small form-factor PCs.

The advantages of pumpless LCS are obvious: it does not have moving parts and therefore is more reliable than traditional systems; it does not generate as much noise and does not use power, provided that the coolant is cheap enough, the cost of a pumpless LCS should be lower than the cost of a traditional closed-loop liquid cooling system. On the other hand, it is completely unclear how the liquid with a very low evaporation point handles high TDPs when placed in a hot external environment. Besides, temperature of such liquid should remain below 40°C at all times (so, you are not going to use such device in Qatar, where temperatures above 40°C are common). Finally, the LCS must be perfectly sealed to maintain vacuum inside because any slight imbalance of pressure inside will harm its operation, a requirement that potentially increases the cost of the device.

This is definitely quite interesting. AIOs generally are cooler than high-performance air coolers, but their biggest disadvantage has generally been noise. Air coolers like the Noctua nh-d15 deliver nearly as good performance as high end AIOs while being much quieter. Generally, the noise has been caused by the pump. With a pumpless design, however, AIOs could be as quiet as air coolers like the nh-d15. This is still a prototype, though, and I am doubtful as to the performance of this compared to conventional AIOs, but it is still interesting nonetheless. I'll be waiting to see if these make it to the market and, if they do, how good they perform.

[AHaskin14]

Cool concept, similar to heat pipes transferring the vapor at a certain temp

[DocSwag]

1 minute ago, AHaskin14 said:

Cool concept, similar to heat pipes transferring the vapor at a certain temp

Yeah, technically now that I think about it it's sorta like a vapor chamber except the heatsink is a radiator lol

[AHaskin14]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

Yeah, technically now that I think about it it's sorta like a vapor chamber except the heatsink is a radiator lol

#Science. Stuff like this is the only reason I like computers anymore. I enjoy games and all, but This shit is neato

[Stefan1024]

Great idea!

Sadly they where not brave enougth to combine it with a huge passive heatsink. Even if it was jsut for the show and never make it to market it would have been very nice.

[Misanthrope]

They should invest in a good sealing system because no pumps means you could have aio performance AND close to air cooler reliability. 

[RexinOridle]

I tried something like this with methanol after watching someone doing it on some previous computex (Can't remember). May be I should've made a video about it.

[crystal6tak]

Not the first people to do this. Neither is the first to show at Computex.

 

SilverStone showed it off all the way back in 2014.

 

Let's hope this one actually hits the market...

[PCgamer324]

so basically a phase-change cooler.... K...

 

think raijintek is a little late to the party on this one, although room temperature phase change systems are interesting

[Energycore]

Your custom loop just became a massive vapor chamber!

 

I like Raijintek and their products. It's a shame they're mostly unavailable in the states as of now.