Duct cooling question.

[Malpine Walis]

Has anyone ever tried using pelts to cool the air in an intake duct?

I have a few ideas but I would like to hear from anyone else who has tried this before so that I can compare my ideas to those of others.

[Monaco]

yah, this was a common experiment for a while. Folks usually called them 'air chillers'. Short version: they don't work.

Long version: Basically, it is much harder to remove heat from air than to add it, at least in practice( don't flame me physics majors!:) lol).Peltiers just don't have the ooomph to cool the air more than a degree or two. The effect is so small, it is not worth the cost and huge draw on you power supply. I'm sure there is a workable way to do this but nobody has found it yet- so far it's just easier to put a pelt on a decent water cooling rig instead. Works better, and is cheaper.

[Malpine Walis]

Originally posted by Monster of Rock
I'm sure there is a workable way to do this but nobody has found it yet- so far it's just easier to put a pelt on a decent water cooling rig instead. Works better, and is cheaper.

Well, there are commercial electronics enclosures that use pelts for cooling. I found one that can move 100 watts for a bit over $ 600.00. So yes, professional engineers have it down.

If this has been discussed in the past, are the discussions archived anywhere? How far back would I have to looks?

[Hoot]

Using the search engine here, I found the following based upon two key words:

air chill = 9 threads
air chiller = 31 threads
air chilling = 6 threads

To validate what Monster of Rock said, pick a different approach to cooling your CPU.

Hoot

[Malpine Walis]

Thanks Hoot. I did one of those searches tonight. So far, I do not see a discussion of convective heat flow for this application. I did see some useful info on one of the problems which I anticipated, namely condensation.

I will keep checking your searches (and learning how the search feature really works).

Since the commercial units do exist (at prices resembling vapochill equiptment) I still want to see what I can come up with. Perhaps I might even get it right.

And I must say that it is nice to see that you are willing to help us new guys out. Thanks again!!!

[Monaco]

well yah it's possible if you throw enough money at it!:)

The problem is, feeding a system cooler air is never going to be as effective as just pelting a water setup, unless you get the air down to sub-zero temperatures all the time. The unit you mentioned that shifts 100watts is not nearly powerful enough- I wouldn't try it unless it was at least DOUBLE that.

If you do, you will have unbelieveably huge problems with condensation. Like, rivers running through your case kind of condensation. :D

Did you read the 3 sticky threads at the top, the ones that talk all about the science of cooling? Should be enough info in there to keep you going for a while.