Phase Change cooling...

Can someone tell me what exactly Phase Change cooling is? Thanks alot.

-steve-

Article

"Phase change cooling involves changing the state of a thermally conductive medium from a liquid to a gas, and back. The process of evaporating the liquid to a gas absorbs heat, and condensing it back to a liquid releases it. This is how air conditioners work, using Freon (traditionally) as the phase change material.


To cool a CPU using this method, you need a heat exchanger (expansion chamber) block mounted on the CPU to absorb the heat generated, a compressor to change the coolant from a gas to a liquid, a heat exchanger to get rid of the heat that is dumped in the compression process, and and a pump to move the liquid/gas through the system. Usually, the compressor also functions as the coolant pump.

This is not a trivial cooling solution, although it's highly effective. They're also not cheap, or quiet. They're for radical, extreme cooling needs, where you might be overclocking a LOT. What a 'lot' is depends on where you're starting from. Slower processors, you might be able to double the speed. Faster processors won't enjoy that kind of boost - you may be limited to 50% or less. There's a diminishing return, based on what sort of differential you need to achieve.

Because of the cost of this solution, it's usually more cost effective to simply buy the faster processor, or use a less complex solution, such as water cooling, or a peltier. These methods are all reserved for the real zealots, and there is substantial cost and risk involved with them all. But, if you're bound and determined to do it, the equipment is out there. Rather than list a half dozen links here, you might want to go check out http://www.overclockers.com They have lots of links, articles, etc. designed to satisfy someone with that interest."

phase change gallery

(Some pics of peoples phase change systems...some are home built)

Ok, thanks alot.