Built a Peltier Block with a Swiftech Apogee GT
I bought this:
http://i22.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/bb/6f/c87a_1.JPG
It was covered in some green gunge, probably a combination of algae and copper sulphate.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/...24748c.jpg?v=0
I cleaned it up with a dip in some Cillit Bang.
This etches the surface the redeposits the copper
Then passivated the water contact surface using a blowtorch.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2306/...8de00e.jpg?v=0
This forms red copper oxide and should act as a barrier to electrochemical corrosion by forming a thin surface layer without hampering thermal performance.
I put it all back together and lapped the base to 1200 grit, cut a 50 mm x 50 mm coldplate (only 2mm) and lapped this. I find a rubber glove stops it slipping.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/...50afd6.jpg?v=0
Applied Arctic Silver Epoxy to the base of the block and did the same with some Ceramique mixed in on the cold side and clamped it using a spare acrylic top from and Alphacool block.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/...b29765.jpg?v=0
The Peltier is a Qc=226, Pmax=350
Danger Danger High Voltage
After running the system overnight I thought I'd check the potentials developed between the copper connectors and blocks and the aluminium radiator.
Pipe connector - radiator:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/...104669.jpg?v=0
CPU block - radiator:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/...0ef608.jpg?v=0
The readings are both in mV. If I don't control this I am going to get electrochemical corrosion. I guess this is the counter argument to using aluminium radiators. Hopefully a few ground straps will sort it out.
The Apogee isn't good enough.
I checked their tracking system again today, another failed delivery allegedly while I was outside. Didn't see one of their vans.
Anyway, it's probably far better that I cut my teeth on my P4 or E4300.
I wired up all the copper components to the radiator no voltage, no galvanic corrosion. Then solve the leaks this caused. Then I thought what happens to a battery when you short the terminals. It heats up. So there may be a trade off here: system reliability vs operating temperature.
I added a temperature probe to the system. When running with no load (no TEC) the system got to around 26C (ambient ~19C) that'll be heat from the pump. With the system wired up temperatures weren't noticeably affected. Will need a longer run (tonight perhaps) to get a more concrete picture. I'm thinking 2hours each way. Fortunately the lady of the house actually likes the noise the system makes so there's no problem running it 24/7 (apart from the electric bill 140W pump, 1350W of PSU, PC will probably use 500+ of this).
Anyway, something really annoying happened when I turned on the Peltier at 13.8V. The cold side got cold then slowly heated up from one end (-ve terminal). One end of the cold plate was hot and the other was cold. I swapped flow direction to see if this was the cause. No difference. I removed the passivation layer from the wet side of the water block. Slight improvement. Loosened the bolts slightly, improvement, but not enough to keep it cool at 12V. Dropped it to 5V, it stayed cold, but that's around 25-30W of cooling, not enough for a C2D. Blocking the other loops in the system helped a bit but I think that I need a block with less flow resistance and some air cooling on the radiator.
What do you think of these?