Thoughts on cooled resevoir

I am looking at building a new water cooling system. I have access to lots of 1/4" thick scraps of aluminum for very cheap. What if I built a reservoir out of 6 pieces of this thick aluminum. Then groove the inside to help with heat transfer between the water and the reservoir. This would act like a heat sink inside the reservoir by increasing surface area. Then put two peltier modules on the sides with large heat sinks and fans. This would make the reservoir take the place of the radiator. Main reason for the peltiers is that I have two from an earlier project and no use for them. I think this would work great out side of the case. Maybe polish the aluminum to a mirror finish place it on the top of the desk.

I still need to work on the idea but thought I would run it by everyone here first. Give me your thoughts please. By the way before someone ask me why not just buy prefab parts. I like to build stuff and have plenty of time and tools to do so. It also gives me more pleasure to know I built it than bought it off a shelf.

for the amount of work you would put into it, the payoff would not be worth it.

1. it's aluminum, bad mojo for copper.
2. you will not see much of a drop in temps at anything passive.
3. it's aluminum, not so nice with copper in a loop.
4. how would you join the strips? the only way i would consider it is for them to be welded.

now if you can find some copper strips, give it a shot. but even then you most likely won't see a major change.

hmmm yep even a relatively well designed aluminium rad/res has a knack of holding heat and not giving it up in a hurry... it works but theres always the few degrees that it wont part with compaired to copper.

probably the lack of density... just does`nt conduct heat two quickly.

And theres the galvanic factor.... thats now had 3 mentions

not so sure about sitting it on the desk... maybe make it into a desk and youve about got the surface area for an aluminium rad #Chuckles#

pelts is an unknown factor to me though... would never need anything that extreme in this cool running country im in.
(just cold nothing good about the place #Laughs#)

as for galvanic destruction... well it just makes your work double for maintenance and you carnt really be slack about it.

I do feel as Spawn says that the work `v results would be dissapointing on the figures side.

aluminiums just cheap budget heat sink material really.

note. im not bias ive got aluminium rads

first and last time!

Hum, did not think of the problems of mixing metals. I think that the aluminum reservoir with the peltiers and two large copper heat sinks would not be that bad at holding heat. The reservoir would be completely welded with a fill and drain port. By the way I am an automotive technician by trade and trust my own welding for my purposes. I was thinking about making it 12"x8"x6" this would fit on a upper shelf of my desk nicely. Nothing else if I build it and it doesn't work out that great it could be used in other hobbies of mine. Would make a great addition to a beer cooler.

I just used a crude formula to figure out that would roughly hold 2 gallons of water. However, would putting two old aluminum p4 heat sinks inside attached to the reservoir base help with heat transfer from the water to the aluminum.

Im a semi qualified engineer... know about the welding and fabrication side. be it a very long time ago.

once did some foundry training with aluminium ingots... could have made that more usefull if I could see into the future... then again sulphurous and poor quality for training purposes (crappy Kilns)

Do it bud if your really up for it then do it... youve got the skills and time to develop it and work on it, you know the score you just think and plod along until your happy with the design.

I know nothing of pelts or how your climate feels and as I said the galvanic corrosion is something you have to work a little to prevent.

had some trusty people tell me they`ve never seen it a problem on an industrial scale! if you manage the coolant as you should.

no sign of corrosion on my tackle. I was in it a few days ago.

its just one extra mess around a year... once for copper twice a year for mixed.

you seem like the kind of guy who would reaspect the system as much as you enjoy the tinkering.

country_3030 said:

I just used a crude formula to figure out that would roughly hold 2 gallons of water. However, would putting two old aluminum p4 heat sinks inside attached to the reservoir base help with heat transfer from the water to the aluminum.

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In a word "NO".

Water doesn't passively give up it's heat very well, no matter what metal, acrylic, or glass you're using. it doesn't stay in that area long enough either. Using more water only lenghtens the time it takes to reach equilibrium. Once it's there, you're back to square one.

Oh, in case someone forgot to mention, ALUMINUM IS BAD MOJO for a cooling loop, unless you're using an ALL aluminum loop.

Axis

the best res is an extra radiator

if you do make it, i would make it thin as you will have less water in the center doing nothing. only the water touching the metal will transfer it's heat. it's the reason why rads have to many small channels for the water to flow and touch as much metal as possible. also why any good rad (water cooling wise) will have flat tubes and not round.

After doing some more studies I have decided to scrap this idea for now. The main reason being after all this trouble it will only probably be a couple degrees below ambient temperature.

country_3030 said:

After doing some more studies I have decided to scrap this idea for now. The main reason being after all this trouble it will only probably be a couple degrees below ambient temperature.

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Um there's no way possible to get below ambient temperatures with JUST watercooling. You're using AMBIENT AIR to cool heated water. How are you supposed to get below ambient air temps when you're using ambient air to cool with?

Axis

axis01 said:

Um there's no way possible to get below ambient temperatures with JUST watercooling. You're using AMBIENT AIR to cool heated water. How are you supposed to get below ambient air temps when you're using ambient air to cool with?

Axis

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i thought the same thing, but remembered the tec involved. at leasts thats what i'm assuming.

I was wanting the peltiers to get it below ambient but I am not sure how well it would work.

Problem with peltier (TECS) is the one side gets cold, the other gets hot. The hot side needs it's own cooling or it will burn up in seconds. So basically, you making a res with TECs to cool the water, then putting a watercooling loop on the hot side to keep the TEC from smoking.

Kinda self defeating. Another nasty surprise is say a TEC can pull 200 watts of heat on the cold side. It generates another 100+ watts of heat on the hot side, so you need to dissipatel 300 watts of heat on the hot side of the TEC. A TEC needs a special 12-24 VDC HIGH amp power supply to make it work too.

Condensation.

I wouldnt run anything below ambient through my lines without insulation.