Liquid Metal Cooling and TF TEC

[Zephik]

Searched the forums for this article from ?last year? and didnt find anything so I thought I would post it and share it with you guys.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/coolers/display/20051106183330.html

The "liquid Metal" cooling sounds really cool, sounds like something that could replace water cooling (duh! oh well...), but the Thin Film Thermoelectrics that have the "peltier effect" is way better! Or at least as I understand it and as they seem to understand it that way as well.

http://www.nanocoolers.com/technology_thin.php

So where are these things man!? I mean geeze... these would be great to introduce into the market right now for video card cooling wise at least. With the new ATI and nVidia cards on the way and all. They could of at least kept the production of the liquid metal cooling products as a cost efficient solution to the thin film thermoelectrics.

Has anyone heard of anything else about either of these products? lol This post might be useless because of my horrible research capabilities... I'll find out soon enough I guess. ^^

-SF

[Airbozo]

So I have always wondered why the heat is not somehow harnessed and used for something. Hey, how about a steam engine (small for sure) powered using the heat from the cpu and gpu(s) to boil the liquid. I know that is extreme but there could be some usefullness there. Hell in the winter my pc heats my room so I close the heater vent. That is some serious btu's!

Picture in your mind a person huddled over a pc engaged in some fanatical fps fragging.
Other person in the backround: "what are you doing in there?"
Gamer: "Heating my dinner!"

[Zephik]

LOL

YES! That is a great idea airbozo!

:banana:

mmmm, computer cooked ramen! YUM! :D

I bet there are better ways to harness the heat from a computer... hmmm... I shall think and ponder apon it! Aka I'll just goof around on the internet for a while and hope something comes to me. lol

-SF

[Slug Toy]

i like the idea of liquid metal cooling. in fact, if you have access to a fairly large amount of mercury, you can do it yourself.

mercury has a thermal conductivity of 8.3 watts per meter degree kelvin
water has a thermal conductivity of 0.6 watts per meter degree kelvin

that means that mercury is 13.83 times as conductive as water.

you know what else? im pretty sure you can use electromagnets to move it. i just think youd want to have a cooling loop of mercury fairly level, because its heavy, and you definitely dont want to be trying to drive it upwards too much.

you definitely want to check for leaks with something like that. one spill of mercury, and your electronics will fry, and its a nightmare to clean up seeming as mercury isnt all that good for you, and it sticks to a lot of things.

[simon275]

Hmm problem with mecury is if there is leak inhalling it can lead to death plus if you have an alluminium case it will eat through it. So you end up dying or going crazy and your computer will have a hole in it. Not fun.

[jdbnsn]

Although it's a cool idea I can see why it has been indefinately canned. Because of people like us! You know damn well that someone like us would take that thing apart and try to do something "outside the box" with it and mercury tox is something they won't likely wager. On the other hand, it is not quite as dangerous as they would have you believe, I broke a thermometer in organic chem and they treated it like it was plutonium. My dad poured mercury in his mouth when he was a kid because he wanted to know what it tasted like (he reports..."not good"). So when people continuously ask me what the hell is wrong with me, I have an excuse!

[Crimson Sky]

Mimetic Poly Alloy: Liquid Metal!

http://www.tnthobbies.force9.co.uk/T1000.jpg

[GT40_GearHead]

mecury cooling, is something that is not going to work, not because mecury is toxic, but because mecury is ilegal, it can be used to rafinate heroine, and stuff like that


but i can imagine it would make a hell of a liquid cooling sistem :D

[Airbozo]

mecury cooling, is something that is not going to work, not because mecury is toxic, but because mecury is ilegal, it can be used to rafinate heroine, and stuff like that


but i can imagine it would make a hell of a liquid cooling sistem :D

I can just imagine the scene at my local Fry's store: "Give me all the liquid cooling units ya have in stock".

"Sorry sir one to a person and step in that line and be prepared to show an id".

FIrst liquid cooled computer I worked with used common antifreeze in an ac cooled radiator room.

Mercury was talked about for certain modules but the risks out wiegh the benefits.

[Crimson Sky]

Mercury was also thought to cure syphylis in the 17th century. They would inject it into the man's urethra with a long hypo. Ouch. The saying was:

"One night with Venus and a month with Mercury"

needless to say, it didnt work, and would often drive the patient mad from poisoning.

[Slug Toy]

mecury cooling, is something that is not going to work, not because mecury is toxic, but because mecury is ilegal

illegal? no way. well, maybe where you are. i can get my hands on it fairly easily here. heck, in grade 7 we were allows to play with big vials of the stuff. each tube must have weight about ten pounds from all the mercury in them.

and ill agree that mercury isnt as dangerous as you think. i... "borrowed" some to fiddle around with. its awesome stuff. it feels like dry jello rolling around in your hand, and its just so heavy. only problem is that i kept it in a test tube with a cork top, and all the mercury slowly seeped into the cork. so now i have a really heavy cork and an empty test tube.

where theres a will, theres a way... no matter how bad an idea it may be.