Upgrade to Peltier Cooling - Upgrade to Peltier Cooling
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Upgrade to Peltier Cooling
The Copper Base Plate
- The internal side of the plate features an irregular surface in the area directly located under the inlet. This creates a turbulent flow, and promotes heat exchange between the plate and the cooling fluid.
Thermo-Electric (Peltier) Module Assembly
The MCW462-UHT is a fully assembled thermo-electrically cooled version of the MCW462-UH.
- Processor compatibility:
- MCW462-UHT : AMD® Athlon, Duron - Socket A
- Cold plate: to increase thermal capacitance, the cold plate is 1/2" thick. The plate is lapped on both sides to an 8 micro surface finish. The unit is entirely assembled using Arctic Silver™ 3.
- Power requirements: due to the very high current requirements, this assembly must be used with a dedicated power supply.
SWIFTECH MCW50-T
Moving on, next up is the MCW50-T. Again, Swiftech takes the popular MCW50 waterblock and outfits it with a peltier. The MCW50-T also gets the full gasket treatment.
Here is what Swiftech notes on theirsite about system integration and thermal load, as well as the official specs for the MCW50-T:
System integration
- Thermal load
Whereas graphic card liquid coolers can be occasionally used with their own separate cooling circuit, most users will integrate the MCW50-T™ to the same circuit as the CPU. The following observations are relevant to the later case.
Careful consideration is necessary when adding a thermoelectric graphics processor cooler to the same circuit as a non thermoelectric-cooled CPU. The reason is simple: Peltier elements add their own internal thermal load (defined by Qmax) to the circuit, thus raising the temperature of the cooling fluid. The same observation is evidently true when adding this unit to an existing thermoelectrically cooled CPU. The additional thermal load requires more heat dissipation capacity from the heat exchanger.
The combined amount of heat (TEC + GPU) added to the circuit by the MCW50-T is approximately 115W (392BTU/hr). The resulting raise in temperature of the cooling fluid will essentially depend on the circuit's heat exchanger thermal characteristics. Users should check these characteristics with the vendor.
Depending on the system design goals (noise versus operating temperature), either a more powerful heat exchanger, or a more powerful fan may be required.
- Power supply requirements
The thermoelectric module pulls approximately 7.5A at 12 volts. When connecting the MCW50-T module to an existing power supply, users should verify their power supply current rating for the+12 volts line. The total amount of current required for system integration will depend on the number of devices already connected to the power supply. A 20A rating should amply suffice in most standard applications such as: single CPU, CD-Rom (1 or 2), Floppy, hard drive (1 or 2) and PCI devices.
MCW50-T™ Specifications
- Housing:
- CNC machined aluminum L2"xW2"xH1"
- Type II, class 2 blue anodized anticorrosion treatment
- Built-in quick-connect fittings for 1/2" OD tubing (3/8" ID)
- Base plate:
- 0.225" thick CNC machined copper base plate
- Outer face is lapped flat to 3/10 of 1/1000", and mirror polished. Center section is raised to provide clearance for ATI® Radeon™ stabilizer frame assemblies.
- Heat dissipation capacity: Up to 53W continuous thermal load to ambient temperature.
- Thermoelectric module data, and requirements:
- Module hot side is directly submersed into the coolant for optimal heat dissipation.
- Power Supply Requirements: minimum 7.5A at 12 volts
- Specifications:
- L40xW40xH3.5mm
- Qmax: 80.3 w
- Imax: 8 amps
- Umax: 15.2 v
- ΔTmax: 65 °C
- Important note: while users may replace the thermoelectric for different power modules, the MCW50-T™ can ONLY be used with 40x40mm physical size modules
Meanwell S-320-12
The dedicated power supply for the Swiftech MCW462-UHT. When powering up the peltier, the inrush current is too great for a regular power supply to handle, so the MeanWell gets the job done.
- 320 Watts single output Switching Power supply
- Output voltage 12 volts, 25 amps +- 1% - R&N 150mV, Effi. 82%
- Input voltage: 88~132 VAC/176~264VAC
- Input frequency 47~63Hz
- UL/CUL approved
- 2 Yr warranty
- dimensions: 9” x 4.5” x 2”
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