Pumpless watercooling

kloppe · Post by **kloppe** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:21 am

I'm building a TEC cooled mini fridge as a school project, and I'm wondering about the possibility of making it passively watercooled--i.e. mean no fan, and no pump.
This is a quick sketch I made, looks like crap but I think it shows the concept at least. :p

Red part is the TEC, blue is waterblock + hose, gray is the radiator.

I'm probably going to use an 89W 15V TEC at 12V, and for the watercooling part I guess a BIP radiator, no idea about the waterblock really.
Searching the forums gave me a little extra knowledge, but not really any clear answers. Is this at all possible, with off-the-shelf components?
Btw, I'm aware that the cost of this would be kind of silly, but meh, it's school-funded.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:39 am

Why do you have those components hanging off the side? I'd think the ideal location for the TEC would be at the top, sandwiched between the radiator and the storage compartment. That would set up cooling convection currents which look like an upside-down version of the heating currents within a pot of water on a stove-top.

Conversely, the radiator on top can be a simple copper/aluminum pot of water, with a rubber lid and a bunch of thick copper wires poking through the lid. These wires draw heat from the water and conduct it to the air.

Uh oh...you've inspired some ghetto watercooling ideas in me...

kloppe · Post by **kloppe** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:01 am

Hm... ya, putting the TEC on top would be a good idea. Would make the whole thing a little taller, but that probably won't be much of a problem.
The reason I'm trying to stay away from making the radiator/waterblock myself is partly because of size, partly because I want to be able to move it easily and partly because I have no wc experience whatsoever and would like to minimize any chances to screw up. :p

jamesavery22 · Post by **jamesavery22** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:28 pm

Guessing youve seen this before?

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=12015

As its pretty much exactly what you are asking for.

kloppe · Post by **kloppe** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:06 am

I did see it, after creating this thread though.

I've been pondering a few different cooling solutions, the one in my first post seems like the easiest but also the most expensive and well, a little boring.

I also had an idea about making some reserator-ish thingy based on what IsaacKuo wrote, but using the back of the mini fridge (more surface area). However I'm not sure whether a, say, 200mm x 250mm x 1mm piece of copper with some copper pipes stuck through it would be able to dissipate all the heat (80~90 watts).
Ideas?