Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

DIY Peltier Chiller for $20-$60


Kevw99

Recommended Posts

I'm building a peltier cooler for my end of year engineering project. Using a 118W TEC, old heatsink/fan which was used on an athlon xp 2200+, small pump, and a water cooling block...

I'm having trouble choosing a good cooling block however; copper quite obviously gives the best heat transfer but it's also no good when it's coming into contact with my salt water! Would aluminium be ok or maybe even duralumin? Titanium is an option I guess. Yes I will be keeping corals btw...

 

Oh the cold side on the peltier will be to the cooling block, and the hot to the heatsink/fan. The tank water will be forced through the cooling block via a pump and then back to the tank. All this will be temperature controlled with a temp probe. Say if it gets too hot the cooling device switches on until the desired temperature is reached.

Edited by shepz
Link to comment
  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Kevw99

    12

  • shepz

    8

  • doncb

    7

  • reefinnewb

    3

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

It will have to be the titanium then. Just worried about constantly having to anneal a block of titanium when i'm trying to mill it :(

 

Ah, I can only dream of being able to do that!

 

One thing you might consider since you are going to mill the block is to include some type of channeling internalally to 1) increase surface contact area between the water and metal and 2) increase turbulance. Both of these improve the efficiency of heat transfer. Ive seen CPU waterblock designs that use projections or "pins" on the inside. I mean, if you are going to mill titanium, you might as well go all the way! :D

Link to comment
Ive seen CPU waterblock designs that use projections or "pins" on the inside. I mean, if you are going to mill titanium, you might as well go all the way! :D

 

If I was doing it out of my own spare time I would knowing that there wouldn't be any extra maths/physics involved; however with the course project you have to justify every detail of the final design... with the mathematical evidence and practical evidence :(

I've got 90 hours to do everything in... oh and a £50 college budget! It's going to be real hard, but hopefully fun at the same time :lol:

Link to comment
  • 3 months later...

The purpose is all to reduce pressure/flow rate. The inner corners of the "N" are not rounded off... this will reduce pressure and also the "E" will kill down on pressure also! You don't want fast water movement nor high pressure because it:

1)won't be as efficient in heat transfer

2)you don't want the fish to suffer from any thermal shock... this way the cold water will mix in with the hot water more effectively before it has a chance to shock inhabitants...

 

Well that's the idea anyway, I may be wrong! :lol:

Link to comment

Wish to share the photo of a peltier chiller that I made for my 5G freshwater tank. I'm still working on improving the aesthetics.

 

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/bezz/peltiercooler

 

As I can't find a suitable aluminium water block, I used an anodized PC aluminium heatsink dunk in the tank water to transfer the coldness to the water. It cools the tank water from 85F to 79F. The peltier is running at 9W and I have it on 24hrs as I stay in sunny Singapore and temperature here is warm (80 - 89) and humid year round.

 

Currently, I am looking to DIY a 10G acrylic tank with an integrated peltier chiller, as I read that arcylic help maintain water temperature better. But I'm having problems getting acrylic adhesive in my country. IPS Weld-on products cost $100+ here and I can't find a store in US that ships international. Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Currently, I am looking to DIY a 10G acrylic tank with an integrated peltier chiller, as I read that arcylic help maintain water temperature better. But I'm having problems getting acrylic adhesive in my country. IPS Weld-on products cost $100+ here and I can't find a store in US that ships international. Any suggestions?

See if you can find MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone), That is really all Weld-on is. To make it a bit thicker, all you have to do is dissolve a few chips of acrylic in some of the MEK (takes a few days). Works like a charm.

Link to comment
See if you can find MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone), That is really all Weld-on is. To make it a bit thicker, all you have to do is dissolve a few chips of acrylic in some of the MEK (takes a few days). Works like a charm.

 

Thanks for the info :D

I'll look for MEK then, wish me luck :)

Link to comment
shao-lin nano

I have a Titan 150 (a thermoelectric chiller). I don't know how large the peltier is on it but the heat sink is enormous, like a little smaller than a brick. I guess the challenge to make it work most efficient is finding a good way to remove heat from the hot side.

Link to comment
I have a Titan 150 (a thermoelectric chiller). I don't know how large the peltier is on it but the heat sink is enormous, like a little smaller than a brick. I guess the challenge to make it work most efficient is finding a good way to remove heat from the hot side.

 

I've tried several ways of removing heat from the Peltier before finally settling for having the fan blow away from the heatsink i.e suck. To futher reduce temperature, add another fan on top of it.

 

There was a guy who posted on a local forum on how he created a 320W Peltier chiller. He ran it at 200W and it is water cooled as it would be impossible to cool that amount of heat efficiently using a fan. He managed to bring a 20G tank from 85F to 66F. Needless to say, if I can get my hands on some water blocks, I'll be trying that out too...

Link to comment
Could you elaborate for those of us that are schematically challenged?

 

Ok... once the probe picks up the peak temperature (around 29C) it activates the peltier thus the cooling process begins... once the water is cooled to a level below 29C the peltier turns off. Pretty simple concept although you have to give way for the fact that when the peltier turns off it will be heating the water a little; since the heat from the hot side will transfer to the cold side and thus onto the heat exchanging block.

post-14663-1137324462_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Ok... once the probe picks up the peak temperature (around 29C) it activates the peltier thus the cooling process begins... once the water is cooled to a level below 29C the peltier turns off. Pretty simple concept although you have to give way for the fact that when the peltier turns off it will be heating the water a little; since the heat from the hot side will transfer to the cold side and thus onto the heat exchanging block.

Oops! Sorry. I meant elaborate on the schematic. Component list, wiring diagram, etc.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Why can't we glue the cold side of the plate to the back of the glass rather than drill the tank? Glass is a great heat conducter and I don't understand the need for the probe part.

 

In fact, I believe it would be MORE efficient because there would be no loss from the peltier device to the probe part and the TEC would be in full contact with the glass.

 

I would glue it using the same glue that is used to mount rearview mirrors to windshields (essentially high quality super glue ).

 

Any thoughts?

Link to comment
Why can't we glue the cold side of the plate to the back of the glass rather than drill the tank? Glass is a great heat conducter and I don't understand the need for the probe part.

 

In fact, I believe it would be MORE efficient because there would be no loss from the peltier device to the probe part and the TEC would be in full contact with the glass.

 

I would glue it using the same glue that is used to mount rearview mirrors to windshields (essentially high quality super glue ).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Well yeah I do, glass is also a good insulator especially after you've used glue strong enough to take the weight of the peltier and the heatsink lol.

There would be no need to drill the tank, I've made alot of changes to my design since and to the circuit aswell.

First of all the pump will sit in the water, it will then pump water through the heat exchanger back into the tank. The probe is simply a digital thermometer acting as a thermostatic input device for the controls. Once the temperature of the tank gets too high the peltier will activate until the temperature has reached the desired level again.

I'm going to start a new thread once I've started getting the project going besides the maths and everything else! My college still haven't sourced me with my titanium! :angry:

Link to comment
neanderthalman

From the link you posted.

 

6.2 The glass of the window of a room is 5 mm thick and has an area of 4 m2. If heat can only escape through the window, calculate the electric power required to keep the room at a uniform temperature 20°C above the external temperature. Repeat the calculation for a double glazed window consisting of two 5 mm thick glass sheets separated by non-convecting air 2.5 mm thick.

[Thermal conductivity of glass is 1.5 W m-1 K-1, of air 21x10-3 W m-1 K-1]

 

*6.3 A copper block of mass 200 g is suspended in a vacuum by a copper wire 10 cm long and 1 mm in diameter. If the copper is initially 100°C above its surroundings, find the rate at which it begins to cool, assuming that radiation can be neglected.

[specific heat of copper is 380 J kg-1 K-1,

Thermal conductivity of copper is 400 W m-1 K-1.]

 

Let me summarize.

 

Thermal conductivity of glass is 1.5 W m-1 K-1

Thermal conductivity of copper is 400 W m-1 K-1

 

See the difference?

Link to comment
From the link you posted.

Let me summarize.

 

Thermal conductivity of glass is 1.5 W m-1 K-1

Thermal conductivity of copper is 400 W m-1 K-1

 

See the difference?

 

That was my point. Intutively you would think it is a good conductor but it isn't. Ordered a DIY Ice Probe yesterdaywhen I found that link.

 

Anyone else want an Ice Probe for $75.00, power supply included?

Link to comment

I pay my own electrical bill.

I'm thinking a real chiller will be in my best interest price wise.

I've been thinking of using a peltier, as I have one laying around from when I was trying to go fanless/overclocking on my game machine. But considering the price per gallon in terms of electricity it's not making lots of sense for my aquapod 24.

Cool project though.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...