Temperature Data for Liquid Cooler

NOTE: You can click on the graph to get a (slightly) bigger version.

Phase II Data

Normal Operation of Liquid Cooler with Peltier

You might be able to see from the graph that the bucket is warming faster than the peltier. I've managed to dump the heat out of the CPU and into the bucket but I now seem to have a problem dumping the heat out of the bucket.

Operation With Ice Water

Well, I wasn't getting the CPU as cold as I wanted so I decided to dump a bunch of ice into the bucket. Starting out with the bucket at 90F was probably not a great idea but whatever. I was very pleased to get the CPU, a very big heat source, down below freezing!! Now that is COOL.

Simulation of Peltier Failure

In the event the peltier looses power I wanted to know what the effect on the system would be. Although I did chicken out early it is clear that the CPU temperature would not have risen to critical temperatures. The temperatures are very undesireable but are never the less short of total melt down. See fan shutdown experiment at the bottom.

Simulation of Water Pump Failure

I was somewhat supprised to find that the failure of the water pump would be catastrophic! After only a modest increase in CPU temperature the heat exchanger was near meltdown temperatures. I wasn't able to touch it for more than a second. At these temperatures peltier failure was certain. If I had planned things a little better I would have put a temperature sensor on the heat exchanger.

Auxilliary Information

Testing the Cooling Power of my CPU Heatsink and Fan

I wanted to know: 1) What would happen if my CPU fan failed, 2) How much work the fan was really doing. The temperature sensor was under the CPU as above. I stuck a pencil in the fan to stop it. I was amazed by the temperature of the CPU without the fan running. Very scary!

Phase I Data

How cold could it go?

I wanted to know what the max delta t I could get out of the peltier was. I quickly found that ice buildup on the cold plate of the peltier was acting as an insulator and thus was keeping the peltier from going below freezing. A shot of ice in the bucket shocked the peltier below freezing but not by much. After covering the cold plate with a fairly dense foam I was pleased, but a bit supprised, to see the temperature go well below zero.

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