Extreme TEC chiller experiment with Antec

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Hello, and welcome to this experiment to get as cool temps in my rig to get the highest overclocks as possible :D

First of all, I would like to give a big thanks to Antec for making this TEC chiller experiment possible :-)


** No hotlinked images **
And Monsoon for some fittings:
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1833952/width/300/height/1000

As said, the point of this TEC experiment is to cool down the water temperature in my rig to get some nice overclocks. The rig is not final yet, but it's coming along really nice and you can se more here; http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18487953
But here a sneak peak;
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1730583/width/500/height/1000

But back to the chiller;
As the title say this is a TEC chiller. In short a TEC/Peltier can transport heat from one side to the other, and by that make one of the side cold, but the other warm. To know more look here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect
The TEC does this just by using electricity which is why a TEC is a genius invention.
However TEC's are not that efficient just yet, which is why they are not that common use in things like a fridge (but they will perhaps become in a few years).

But their inefficiency isn't that big a problem for this experiment since we just bump up the numbers of TECs and power for them should be no problem (except if the electric system in my apartment can't handle that amount of Watt's).

So the idea (for a TEC chiller in general) is to block the TECs in between two water blocks. The "cold-side" water block will be incorporated in the rigs loop (no radiator in this loop when the chiller is in work) so that the water will get cooled down and the hardware should get some low temperatures and then high overclocks :)

The "hot-side" of the "TEC sandwich" should have course be cooled (or it will most likely melt). But the lower the temperature of the "hot-side" the lower the temperature of the "cold-side" we can get. And since the experiment is to get as low temperature as possible, the cooling for the hot-side is also in the extreme category (more on this later :D)

TEC's
Right now it looks to be these TECs;
http://customthermoelectric.com/tecs/pdf/12711-5M31-24CZ_spec_sht.pdf
How many is still a bit uncertain, but it will be at least 12 of them (perhaps 16).
But if you have any other ideas for some better TECs, please speak up.
They will be run with 12V, so have this in mind ;)

Water blocks
The water blocks for the "TEC sandwich's" will be custom made in copper and plexi top.
The internal design for the water block is not still decided, but so far I'm looking toward something like this (Design from Skyrip at Overclock.net);
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1709702/width/500/height/1000
But perhaps with smaller and more of the squares to create some turbulence and high surface area that should make the blocks efficient to transfer heat to the water ;-)
But other designs are more then welcome as well :)

So there you have my idea for an extreme TEC chiller.
I don't know if I will make subzero temps when bench with just CPU or one GPU or the whole system, but the hardware will be isolated to cope with the possible condensation ;-)
 
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TEC's are a waste of time imo... Just not worth the expense and power draw.

Would be much better running a SS water chiller as it would be cheaper to buy and run while providing much lower temperatures.
 
Last weak a heavy package came (guess from who :D):
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http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734908/width/500/height/1000

And within that a few more packages;
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734904/width/500/height/1000


Can you guess what is inside those packages?

If you thought fans, then you were right :)
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734907/width/500/height/1000

And lots of them :D (56 of them to be precise)
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734913/width/500/height/1000

Some nice fans with Double ball-bearing and able to move a good amount of air with 2000 rpm. Properly a bit noisy, but that really doesn't matter for me, they just need to move a lot of air. But if silence is needed they can always be slowed down to 1200 rpm.

But for this project I'm also in need of quiet a lot of thermal compound, and it have to operate at both high and low temperature along having good thermal conductivity. Which Antec also have supplied :D
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734916/width/500/height/1000

Some nice Formula 7 with diamond particles (not sure if they really do the trick to getting lower temps, but it seems like a good thermal compound):
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734917/width/500/height/1000

But there is plenty of it, which is needed for all the TEC's and the SG09 build's hardware :)

Antec did also through in a bit extra for my three U2711 screens (could use some cleaning after some 2 years of use :rolleyes:)
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1734918/width/500/height/1000

So that's it for now. Next step would be to get the water cooling for the "hot-side" loop home (guess what all those fans are for :D), and to decided which and how many TEC's I should get and order them (so the water block also can begin to take shape/design them).
 
So I have come a bit further in with this project :D

The following wasn't meant for this chiller, but for my SG09 build that was planned long ago.
That's also why they have the colors that they got (not Photoshop, but spray painted).
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762644/width/500/height/1000

And yes, that is a Phobya External Radiator "Bench edition" stand, along with a D5 pump in a EKWB X-RES 140mm housing that have been spray painted white.
The stand only comes in black, and I ran out of paint on a Saturday (this summer), and haven't come much further since.
BUT it will get painted just as white as all the rest.
Then pump will also get a slap of paint. Not sure if I should go green on it or white like the rest.

On the other side we got the 9x120mm radiator that is 45mm thick, along the 120mm fans from Antec :D
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http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762710/width/500/height/1000

I think that the plexi fans are looking really well with the rest, and I will look much better when the radiator stand will get all white.

Another package came this Friday including some of the best looking fittings right now (I do think that acrylic tubing and fittings looks nice, but for me Monsoon fittings and their colors are just the right thing :D )
So thanks to Monsoon for sponsoring some fittings for this chiller project :)
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762713/width/500/height/1000

If we take a closer look at the pump/reservoir, you can see that it's not the normal water that is running round in the little loop.
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762715/width/500/height/1000
I have always like the way that some colorful crystals was floating around in a liquid up in chemistry lap.
But most of those crystals was either expensive or very toxic.
So when I saw that Mayhems had made a similar product for watercooling, I new I had to have it.
The liquid is Mayhems Green Aurora.
(pump settings was "1" = the lowest)

But the Aurora is not ideally for this chiller experiment, so when that time comes, I will have found something more suitable.
The Aurora was for the looks in the SG09 build :rolleyes:

Doesn't those beautiful Monsoon fittings deserve a picture in focus?, I do believe so :D
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762727/width/500/height/1000

Now before we end this update, soe of you may think; "that painting will get you higher temps".
And yes, that is correct, BUT again this was intended for the SG09 build, which really doesn't require a radiator like that, but I really like silence (or my girl does), so I got the radiator.

As for the chiller, one of these is clearly not enough for the amount of heat I will put into that loop.
But that's also why there is coming two more of these in (just 60mm thick) and all three of them will have push pull (that's way the 56 fans :D )
I do think that should do the trick :)

Just as a closing picture (don't stare to long at it), the structure of the radiator stand and radiator in background:
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1762734/width/500/height/1000
 
Thanks all :-)

Pretty, but pointless.

This type of cooling was tried, and abandoned, 10-15 years ago.

Nothing has changed since then that’d make it work any better.

Well TECs do evolve (and properly have since 15 years ago).
But yes TECs isn't the most popular way to cool due to them still being a bit inefficiency, but I still find them very cool (and fun, which is the most important thing) to play around with.

But if more people demanded that better TECs came around more would perhaps research in them, and in the end we would get better TECs (not just for PC coolers) :D
 
Hi all

Now with Christmas over and exams, I'm once again back to hopefully finish this build and the TEC cooler.
Also Happy New Year :)

This update isn't a big one, but I am in need of your help :)
I'm not at big water flow engineer, so if you got any ideas for at better water block for the TECs, please let me know :p

Currently I got this designed;
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http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1833902/width/500/height/1000


This will be in copper and it is 6mm high (with the squares 4mm(height)x2mmx2mm) and will get a acrylic top (where the inlet and oult will be and at each end).
Holes in the sides are for screws and springs to press the two blocks around the TEC tight together :-)

There will then be one at each side of the TECs.

The question is if this block is good enough for the amount of heat they need to take up and give to the water (4 or 5 TECs + some of the hardware load = approx. 1000w)?

Also Skyrip have suggested that I could use direct cooling of the TEC's instead (where the water runs directly over the TECs).
Something like that he have done here;
http://forum.highflow.nl/f34/super-cool-14427/index2.html

It would make it a lot cheaper and easier to make.
But I'm in doubt as to how well it would work, due to there is limited restriction (just a plain surface).

So if you got any suggesting for the water blocks please let me know ;)
 
So ignoring the power requirements, and the extra heat this will produce what are you going to do about condensation issues?

Back in the day (I'm taking 10+ years ago when tecs / phase change was popular with the likes of prometia / vapochill) good tec loops require lots of insulation for condensation.

I had a TEC directly on my graphics card, a x800xt pro flashed to pe. I had a lot of insulation on it to prevent condensation.
 
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