Ultrasonic2's TEC liquid chilled pc

[Ultrasonic2]

right we'll i've decided to go back to my roots and build another TEC water chiller but this time to improve on the whole concept.

here is a pic of my first chiller i made years ago. that was to impractical to ever be used in a PC 24/7


i want to make the chiller and all it's piping and power supply's fit inside a HAF X case.

I wont be going for sub dew point because like everyone it's just to much hassle im intending on using 2 285TEC's to chill water to 20c (sub ambient but above dew point ) and to cool the TEC's with a 240gtx (what i have). i expect the hot water will be about 35'c so thats about a delta of 15-20c.

Obviously to keep the chiller at 20'c it will be PWM controlled and should uses very little power since the required delta is low

i will also be making my self a cpu water block because the ones you can buy are just to boring . nothings done yet but here is a teaser of the water block

[mindchill]

Maybe something like this.. This isn't quite finished, but basically the same idea.

[Ultrasonic2]

Well yes though the implementation will be quite different

Im gonna control mine with a T-balancer or I could control it via the motherboard sensor( though I won’t be doing the motherboard idea)

And the chiller will be mounted to the inside of the case where the exhaust fan is normally because i can't afford to loose any more slots

Dual res in 2 of them, cdrom in1 and PSU in another =4 and thats all the slots i have as i have 6 hard disks in raid 0 (yeah baby)

[mindchill]

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

[TJ TRICHEESE]

This sounds epic! sub'd

[Ultrasonic2]

i would be more than interested in your two build logs guys

im my own enemy when it comes to getting this build done i just keep finding myself playing BFBC2 instead. (pic from last night)

[mindchill]

i would be more than interested in your two build logs guys

im my own enemy when it comes to getting this build done i just keep finding myself playing BFBC2 instead. (pic from last night)

I know the feeling. Its hard to get motivated sometimes.. Its world of Warcraft for me though.

I might throw up some pictures of that chiller build log later on in another thread.. I'm just happy to see someone else working on a tec project again

[Annirak]

This looks awesome. Keep the updates coming!

[Utnorris]

Are you going to make the chiller to be sold or just for personal use? I have always wanted a chiller that was small enough for a case. Interested to see what becomes of this.

[Ultrasonic2]

I know the feeling. Its hard to get motivated sometimes.. Its world of Warcraft for me though.

I might throw up some pictures of that chiller build log later on in another thread.. I'm just happy to see someone else working on a tec project again

yeah i know what you mean i thought TEC's were gonna get big a gain but they seem to have totally died. only a few people left now

Are you going to make the chiller to be sold or just for personal use? I have always wanted a chiller that was small enough for a case. Interested to see what becomes of this.

im making it for my personal use, im updating the Chiller i have had for sale for years now .. mind you i have NEVER sold even one. which is a big surprise since they are a great idea.

i have a pic of the chiller im gonna use ( before the revamp )

it isn't going to be a fast build as i wont have the money for all the water cooling gear till August

i need to get me one of these


for me i think it will be cheaper to TEC chill my PC with my existing 240gtx then go out and buy the biggest rads i can fit in my rig (which is what i would do if i wasn't TECing

[Utnorris]

I would be interested in a chiller depending on the price of course, but it would have to be a complete package, meaning TEC's and controller like the one pictured in the first post. I assume that is Mindchill's new creation, not sure if you or him are the one building it, but it looks like what I would be interested in.

[Ultrasonic2]

I would be interested in a chiller depending on the price of course, but it would have to be a complete package, meaning TEC's and controller like the one pictured in the first post. I assume that is Mindchill's new creation, not sure if you or him are the one building it, but it looks like what I would be interested in.

yeah that's mindchills so you'll have to ask him

i've been around the block to many times to sell blocks with TEC's installed any more.

[ilkkahy]

When talking about PWM-controlled TEC:s do you mean that "voltage (and current) fed to the load is controlled by turning the switch between supply and load on and off at a fast pace." (from wikipedia)? Im just wondering that is this ok with peltier-elements? Is it all the same for peltier life-cycle if there is ripple in voltage or not?

[Ultrasonic2]

When talking about PWM-controlled TEC:s do you mean that "voltage (and current) fed to the load is controlled by turning the switch between supply and load on and off at a fast pace." (from wikipedia)? Im just wondering that is this ok with peltier-elements? Is it all the same for peltier life-cycle if there is ripple in voltage or not?

PWM if the preferred method for controlling TEC's and IS recommend by manufacturers to be over 1k switching frequency

[Serpentarius]

Why not assign more paths for the flow to stay slightly longer in the block?
i know somehow the flow is important, but on this case? will be better?

[Ultrasonic2]

Why not assign more paths for the flow to stay slightly longer in the block?
i know somehow the flow is important, but on this case? will be better?

hay i dont really understand your question . what i will say is these channels are like 11mm deep so i dont need more of them as it's important to keep the velocity up . if i was using a much thinner copper i would need more slots

any way i just bought this stuff to get this project moving

[Utnorris]

Keep us updated. I know I will be following it.

[mindchill]

PWM if the preferred method for controlling TEC's and IS recommend by manufacturers to be over 1k switching frequency

^^^
This.. looking forward to seeing some more good stuff from you

[Annirak]

yeah i know what you mean i thought TEC's were gonna get big a gain but they seem to have totally died. only a few people left now

I think it's a lack of good, inexpensive controllers that did it. I keep meaning to fix that problem, but I haven't had the time to focus on it. I think that most people who are willing to deal with the condensation problems will end up going to phase-change, which leaves us with no TEC market.

im making it for my personal use, im updating the Chiller i have had for sale for years now .. mind you i have NEVER sold even one. which is a big surprise since they are a great idea.

I wish I had the money...

[Ultrasonic2]

I think it's a lack of good, inexpensive controllers that did it. I keep meaning to fix that problem, but I haven't had the time to focus on it. I think that most people who are willing to deal with the condensation problems will end up going to phase-change, which leaves us with no TEC market.

I wish I had the money...

actually controlling it is simple these days you take the motherboards cpu coolers out put which is PWM and plug that into a SSR and your done(probably need a zennor diode too),. the response curve of my motherboard i can change, so controlling it is cheap and simple

insulating is to much hassle so this one will be kept over dew point.

the other thing i love about chillers is they will last for ever since they have nothing to do with the cpu socket which intel like to change every week. Oh and if you need more cooling just string another chiller inline

[Ultrasonic2]

right i have started facing my stock . This is mid second pass. and a pic of me making the covers

i should have the chiller made by the end of the week if all goes well

[Ultrasonic2]

right the 2 covers have been milled and one of the water blocks. the other should be done by the time i wake up. there is still hand finishing to be done on everything and Nickel plating baby YEAH !

[Ultrasonic2]

Right So some of you guys have expressed your concerns over whether or not this will actually work. Most of the concerns have been about the lack of radiators.

The GTX240 can move 500watts of heat too 10c and my ambient is 25
so water temp is 35c
The thermal resistance of the hot side while moving my 250watt cpu will result in 5c
So the TEC hot side will be 40c

Applying 13.6 volts to each TEC will consume a combined total of 200watts
And while moving my cpu heat load of 250watts a delta of 20c will be achieved
Resulting in a cold side temp of 20c

This is all based on random info on the net so wont be accurate AT all. my take on it, is it’s probably not going to work or be very close. I could always add more fans and another chiller to swing the numbers in my favour. im designing it all with the ability to fit another chiller in there

[skeyo]

Nice bro I can't wait to see how it's gonna work. I hope some nice sb oc's with this thing.

[Utnorris]

Looking forward to seeing this in action.