New Cooling Method

[billxam]

I'm sure tons of people use this solution but I thought it's pretty cool. Short story long, I bought a Lenovo Ideapad, CR5STB03 with a Pentium N5030 new when they came out. Nice size SSD, BT and wifi are great. At the time it was the fastest in the house. I discovered after a while that some nitwit designed it with a passive cooling system with vents that are 50% of the actual cooling device, couple strips of copper. It never cooled very well, easily exceeding 130 degrees streaming videos, especially after a year of use. I assumed cheap paste.

After I loaned it to my mother before she passed away, she, for the first time ever she answed yes to a popup, sure, install Windows 11. And the overheating was Windows 11 supercharged!

I use it for music production now. Last summer, I tore it apart, replaced the thermal paste, enlarged the vents. Still cracking 130.  Cooling pad? Useless. So I stuck a 1100 cfm fan under on it. At full fan blast the CPU stayed under 120 F, unless I was actually using it for high load activities. Plus it sounded like a DC-3 taking off. 

Utilizing some of that college learning, I thought about water cooling. On a laptop. I need super cooling on this thing and use it as a laptop still. So, after some thought, I ordered some peltier plates (6 amp, -22 F @ 6 amps, 40 mm x 40 mm, I run 2 amps, around 30 F), heat sinks and an actual cooling fan from a donor laptop. I know I've got a 6 amp power supply around here but for now, 2 amps works.

I know it's not a benchmark but seat of the pants - end result that I know very well on this computer:

Video streaming, HD
Before,  130 + F,  pause for cool down.
After, 80 - 85 F

[argentus]

I'm used to doing lots of research, but not usually for interpreting member posts.    This isn't 'seat-of-the-pants' as you characterized yourself, but this is really creative problem solving on a level that isn't restrained by the paradigms of the conventional thinking of the industry.   I think this is the best of things that humans are capable of -- when they don't accept the limitations of what is 'known".  

peltier plates?   Never heard of them until this moment.  This is fascinating to me, because I can sorta kinda visualize an interface between them and magnetic flux compression generators.   Cool stuff, as long as one doesn't blow themself up.   I already know that the loss of eyebrow(s) isn't life-threatening.   Found that out at age 12. 

Thank you for your insightful thread.  

[chr0naut]

I'm sure tons of people use this solution but I thought it's pretty cool. Short story long, I bought a Lenovo Ideapad, CR5STB03 with a Pentium N5030 new when they came out. Nice size SSD, BT and wifi are great. At the time it was the fastest in the house. I discovered after a while that some nitwit designed it with a passive cooling system with vents that are 50% of the actual cooling device, couple strips of copper. It never cooled very well, easily exceeding 130 degrees streaming videos, especially after a year of use. I assumed cheap paste.

After I loaned it to my mother before she passed away, she, for the first time ever she answed yes to a popup, sure, install Windows 11. And the overheating was Windows 11 supercharged!

I use it for music production now. Last summer, I tore it apart, replaced the thermal paste, enlarged the vents. Still cracking 130.  Cooling pad? Useless. So I stuck a 1100 cfm fan under on it. At full fan blast the CPU stayed under 120 F, unless I was actually using it for high load activities. Plus it sounded like a DC-3 taking off. 

Utilizing some of that college learning, I thought about water cooling. On a laptop. I need super cooling on this thing and use it as a laptop still. So, after some thought, I ordered some peltier plates (6 amp, -22 F @ 6 amps, 40 mm x 40 mm, I run 2 amps, around 30 F), heat sinks and an actual cooling fan from a donor laptop. I know I've got a 6 amp power supply around here but for now, 2 amps works.

I know it's not a benchmark but seat of the pants - end result that I know very well on this computer:

Video streaming, HD
Before,  130 + F,  pause for cool down.
After, 80 - 85 F

Sounds like a good project.

Could we have some pictures too?

And, since they were plural, how many Peltier's and are they stacked or side by side?

[billxam]

peltier plates?   Never heard of them until this moment.  This is fascinating to me, because I can sorta kinda visualize an interface between them and magnetic flux compression generators.   Cool stuff, as long as one doesn't blow themself up.   I already know that the loss of eyebrow(s) isn't life-threatening.   Found that out at age 12. 

Thank you for your insightful thread.  

There are computers that use the Peltier effect for cooling. I just went home brew.

I learned about Peltier plates when I was first learning off grid systems - I had a 12 volt fridge that used a Peltier - connect one way and it's a fridge, reverse the connection and now it's a food warmer. They do suck the amps. The way they work is you connect them to a power source, one side freezes and the other gets hot. You can't blow one up that I'm aware of.  I actually tried to work out the math to make a 5,000 btu air conditioner with them. Would be affordable but you would need a hellva power supply.


Google helpfully says "A Peltier plate is a solid-state thermoelectric device that uses the Peltier effect to create a temperature difference, acting as a cooler on one side and a heater on the other when an electric current is applied, allowing for rapid, precise temperature control in applications like rheology, scientific research, and small-scale cooling systems. These plates consist of semiconductor elements sandwiched between copper plates, providing silent, vibration-free heating and cooling without refrigerants."

[argentus]

There are computers that use the Peltier effect for cooling. I just went home brew.

I learned about Peltier plates when I was first learning off grid systems - I had a 12 volt fridge that used a Peltier - connect one way and it's a fridge, reverse the connection and now it's a food warmer. They do suck the amps. The way they work is you connect them to a power source, one side freezes and the other gets hot. You can't blow one up that I'm aware of.  I actually tried to work out the math to make a 5,000 btu air conditioner with them. Would be affordable but you would need a hellva power supply.


Google helpfully says "A Peltier plate is a solid-state thermoelectric device that uses the Peltier effect to create a temperature difference, acting as a cooler on one side and a heater on the other when an electric current is applied, allowing for rapid, precise temperature control in applications like rheology, scientific research, and small-scale cooling systems. These plates consist of semiconductor elements sandwiched between copper plates, providing silent, vibration-free heating and cooling without refrigerants."

We live on an off-grid system, except we are still tied into the grid.   We produce 60% of our energy.   If we didn't use any air conditioning, we would produce 100% of our needs.   Our fridge and freezer are both 24-volt.   If I could solve the a/c situation, we would be golden.

[Nerb]

Peltier plates are so cool you can use heat to create electricity too.

It's how "stove fans" work. I have one on top of my woodburner to blow the air around the room.

How to Generate Electricity with Thermoelectric Peltier Generators

[billxam]

We live on an off-grid system, except we are still tied into the grid.   We produce 60% of our energy.   If we didn't use any air conditioning, we would produce 100% of our needs.   Our fridge and freezer are both 24-volt.   If I could solve the a/c situation, we would be golden.

Lots of amps. 6 amps per, about 150 amps @ 12 volts.

[argentus]

Lots of amps. 6 amps per, about 150 amps @ 12 volts.

24-volt is more efficient, and can handle higher loads.    If we were to invest another USD $12,000 in solar/wind and another USD $3,000 in battery storage, we could be completely off grid.   

However, I didn't want to derail you thread talking about alternative energies, my apologies.  I think your 'homegrown' solution to your computer woes was brilliant.    I wonder what else you can create?

[billxam]

Peltier plates are so cool you can use heat to create electricity too.

It's how "stove fans" work. I have one on top of my woodburner to blow the air around the room.

How to Generate Electricity with Thermoelectric Peltier Generators

I forgot to mention that! Those fans are great.

[billxam]

I thought I'd post this as a reply rather than a new thread. Version 2.0 of the Peltier chip cooling system is done and boy, does it work! I'm now seeing no more than 62 F even with heavy streaming or music production. 

In my first generation of it, I modified the existing passive cooling on the laptop with new thermal paste and mounting the chip on the copper passive heat dispersing plate above the CPU.

In the second version, I added way more thermal paste to the passive plate, re-glued the peltier on it (used a weight until the glue set), ditched the heat sink, and took a better cooling fan from an old laptop. So no heatsink to keep the laptop portable. It ah, works better.

Video streaming, HD
Before,  130 + F,  pause for cool down.
Version 1, peltier, 80 - 85 F
Version 2, peltier, 62 F