thermoelectric cooler

odleon · 06-16-2005, 09:53 PM

does any one have any ideas on how these could be used??
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...T-5&type=store

egeekial · 06-16-2005, 09:58 PM

AKA peltier cooler. They're a ***** to power (especially in a car) and a ***** to cool.

Peoples · 06-16-2005, 09:58 PM

i dont understand how it works

egeekial · 06-16-2005, 10:05 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

I'm not sure of the internals, but one side gets really hot and the other gets really cold.

odleon · 06-16-2005, 10:12 PM

it said on the page they where intended for 12v use. what would you need to power them??

Change · 06-16-2005, 10:20 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by odleon

it said on the page they where intended for 12v use. what would you need to power them??

Um...is this a trick question? 12 volts...

psyrex · 06-16-2005, 10:21 PM

I would not recommend you use peltiers in carputer applications. First of all, it requires energy to move energy. The power draw on these things are killer: the peltier I've used in overclocking a desktop is a 6A draw at 12V. Secondly, all they do is maintain a temperature differential. So, in order to keep the cool side cool, you have to keep the hot side cooled (liquid cooling, etc). Fans attempt to bring temperatures down to ambient temps, peltiers actually pull heat out to create below-ambient temps. Since I don't see the need to create sub-zero temps in a car environment, I advice against peltiers.

-psyrex

Peoples · 06-16-2005, 10:22 PM

from the site you linked egeekial,
Methods that have been used to cool overclocked components include: forced convection (a fan blowing onto a surface); liquid cooling (liquid carries waste heat to a radiator, similar to how automobile engines are cooled); liquid nitrogen (perhaps the most dangerous method); dry ice; phase change cooling (as used in refrigerators); and submersion (placing the entire computer in an inert fluid). Liquid nitrogen is a temporary cooling measure in most cases, since a sufficient supply of power to maintain the LN2 coolant at liquid state is uneconomical. Because of this, liquid nitrogen (or dry ice, for that matter) is used as an extreme measure to set a record in a one-off experiment rather than to cool a system for a normal period of use. One reason is the cost of these extreme cooling methods, or usually because the hardware exposed to such cooling is ironically destroyed in the process. Of the aforementioned methods, air cooling, liquid cooling, and phase cooling are the most popular, due to their efficiency, availability, and affordability.

interesting idea for cooling in the car, I recall seeing several exhibits of computers submerged in liquid.....if someone did this in the car, that would be very cool

Peoples · 06-16-2005, 10:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Change

Um...is this a trick question? 12 volts...

hes responding to egeekial

Quote:

AKA peltier cooler. They're a ***** to power (especially in a car) and a ***** to cool.

odleon · 06-16-2005, 10:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by egeekial

AKA peltier cooler. They're a ***** to power (especially in a car) and a ***** to cool.

was refering to his comment. if thay are a ***** to power, how do you do it??

0l33l · 06-16-2005, 10:52 PM

I did a science project on one of these. Well, its good for cooling the computer, if you make a custom PSU for it. And it also ADDS heat that needs to be dispersed! But it does cool the processor.

QnoisX · 06-16-2005, 11:23 PM

Um, you could possibly mount a decent sized radiator either in front of or behind your normal radiator. Then add an extra water pump to your engine to pass the water back and forth from the peltier to the radiator. Of course it would be difficult to implement, but very sweet. Engines run much hotter than cpus, so it seems logical.

Bugbyte · 06-16-2005, 11:34 PM

God, I love the web! One Google and the info comes up. The link shows a fully submerged PC being cooled by vegetable oil.

It even says the fans work under the oil.

White 350z · 06-17-2005, 12:27 AM

TECs (peltiers) are based on the Peltier effect - the creation of a heat difference from an electric voltage. Peltier coolers work by passing a current through two dissimilar metals. The current makes heat transfer from one side to the other. In other words, one side cools off while the other heats up.

Peltiers require a lot of amps to run, and they dissipate a lot of heat. I ran a peltier that required 20A and dissipated 226W of heat! Peltiers are generally used in conjunction with water cooling in order to expel all of the heat.

A peltier would be totally impractical in a carPC because of the setup needed to run one. I burnt out many a PSU because my peltier drew too much from the power supply in conjunction with the rest of the system. Most people nowadays run a separate power supply just for the peltier. I also ran 2 radiators on my watercooling setup and a bunch of big fans. Not to mention a cold plate, because without one the CPU would be toast before the peltier reached full effect. Yea, I can overclock the f$%k out of my CPU, but it is too impractical for everyday use. It would be like trying to drive an NHRA dragster to work every morning.

And as to the ideas about tapping into the car's water system, bad idea. The water would be WAY too hot. You would simply be passing friggin-hot water over the CPU. Most engines run between 160 and 220 degrees fahrenheit.

BUT if someone is crazy enough to run a peltier, I can help you do it. It's not terribly hard to do as far as the work goes, but you have to know what you are doing or else you will ruin your chip (and maybe the board as well). And it is time consuming as well.

0l33l · 06-17-2005, 12:38 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by White 350z

BUT if someone is crazy enough to run a peltier, I can help you do it. It's not terribly hard to do as far as the work goes, but you have to know what you are doing or else you will ruin your chip (and maybe the board as well). And it is time consuming as well.

Yeh, my 60w peltier melted the condensation and I had to dry my p4 for 3 days