Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

You're gonna want to see this

Joined
May 24, 2012
Messages
582
Points
28
So a few weeks ago I was browsing my local American Science and Surplus store and came across replacement pumps for electronic blood pressure monitor machines. It's a tiny pump that sucks air through one hole and blows it out the other with extreme pressure. I mean if you attach a clear hose (which they also sell) to the blowing end, stick it in your mouth and try and blow against it you just can't fight it. These things have some power.

After purchasing three, I took one apart (obviously) to see just how it works. Though I don't have pictures of the internals to post just yet, I can say that it seemed to me that the area inside it that pumps the air through would be completely waterproof. So I tested it out
(as you'll see I was excited to test it out so it's a bit rigged up, but we've all been there)



Sure enough it worked. I've probably pumped a gallon of water through it by now with no problem, and not a single leak. The hoses you see on it I put on myself, it's a very small unit and pumps a lot of water. I'm gonna do some further testing, maybe see how many cups per minute of mineral oil it will transfer. I smell liquid cooled handhelds in the near future :eg:

If anyone wants one I believe they cost me $35 USD each. The clear tubing was $2 per foot or something like that. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think.
(I don't think the embedded video is working so I added a link)
 
Last edited:





Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
1,595
Points
63
WHAAAT.gif
 

jimdt7

0
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
1,893
Points
48
Very nice find +1 :beer:
Could we use these in PC Water Cooling ? :thinking:

Jim
 
Joined
May 24, 2012
Messages
582
Points
28
Very nice find +1 :beer:
Could we use these in PC Water Cooling ? :thinking:

Jim
I don't see why not :) But then again on a desktop you don't have to worry much about small size when you're gonna make it liquid cooled, so I wouldn't see the point... Water cooled laptop maybe? :D Tonight I think I'm gonna hook one up to power, recirculating water, before I go to sleep and see if it can survive the night. They're about the diameter of a "C" battery, and hardly an inch longer. That's what gave me the idea to slap one into a handheld, and I think I found my host already ;)
 
Last edited:

vk2fro

0
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
1,304
Points
63
Could be useful in liquid cooling the innards of a projector - they're pretty cramped in there, so a small pump would be nice for e.g. keeping a quad red or blue cool.

On another note, why did that video make me want to go to the bathroom LOL :p
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
9,399
Points
113
Why not use a $10 washer fluid pump or a $6 aquarium pump? They're just as small and more efficient.

Quite frankly, you gain nothing by liquid-cooling a handheld anyway.
 
Joined
May 24, 2012
Messages
582
Points
28
Why not use a $10 washer fluid pump or a $6 aquarium pump? They're just as small and more efficient.

Quite frankly, you gain nothing by liquid-cooling a handheld anyway.

Why not indeed. I've never done much research on submersible pumps, I was merely impressed by the fact that it's NOT designed for liquids, but to pressurize air.

And no you probably wouldn't gain anything by liquid cooling a handheld, but wouldn't it be oh so sweet?


`wtf s this crap ! about ? laser pointer ? or a asshole blower

I guess that's entirely up to the consumer :na:


Could be useful in liquid cooling the innards of a projector - they're pretty cramped in there, so a small pump would be nice for e.g. keeping a quad red or blue cool.

On another note, why did that video make me want to go to the bathroom LOL :p

That's a neat idea. I wasn't attempting to specify this to be used merely for lasers. I'm sure you could come up with plenty of practical uses. I'm gonna do a test to see what kind of psi they're capable of. I know that if you seal it off well you can blow up a water bottle from the amount of air pressure it will build
 
Last edited:

CCC

0
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
15
Points
3
Water is the best heat sink there is. It's better than aluminum, better than copper, better than silver. There's no need for pumping, just figure out how to put a water shroud around your diode heat sink, and off you go. It'll absorb more energy than anything else.
 

Cel

0
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
742
Points
28
Water is the best heat sink there is. It's better than aluminum, better than copper, better than silver. There's no need for pumping, just figure out how to put a water shroud around your diode heat sink, and off you go. It'll absorb more energy than anything else.

It will only absorb heat, and won't conduct it well. You would need a lot of time to cool that down. So metals are better, they disperse the heat away, although they have cca. 5 times less specific heat capacity than water... (hydrogen has 3.4 times the heat capacity of water)

Water is a good accumulator of heat, (some) metals are good dispersers of heat..

Anyway, list of heat capacity of some metals.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
173
Points
0
Water is the best heat sink there is. It's better than aluminum, better than copper, better than silver. There's no need for pumping, just figure out how to put a water shroud around your diode heat sink, and off you go. It'll absorb more energy than anything else.

right, but like cel said, it needs to be cooled, it does hold heat well, so using it as the middle layer for pulling heat away would be best. the ideal order would be an initial inductor that will pull heat as fast as possible out of the immediate area, and dump it into something to hold it, then move it somewhere else that can disperse it. so a layer of silver, then water, then pumped to be cooled via tec/heat pump/phase change/complex maze of water to cooled aluminum

everyone is getting into water cooled units...i gotta finish my project fast :evil:
 

Cel

0
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
742
Points
28
right, but like cel said, it needs to be cooled, it does hold heat well, so using it as the middle layer for pulling heat away would be best. the ideal order would be an initial inductor that will pull heat as fast as possible out of the immediate area, and dump it into something to hold it, then move it somewhere else that can disperse it. so a layer of silver, then water, then pumped to be cooled via tec/heat pump/phase change/complex maze of water to cooled aluminum

everyone is getting into water cooled units...i gotta finish my project fast :evil:

That is too complicated... Aluminum / copper are very good for their price/performance.
And if the heatsink is not big enough, use TEC.

IMO, TEC and Al / Cu heatsink is the best option.
 

CCC

0
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
15
Points
3
Heat pipes are the best conductors. But, I think a shroud of water would do just fine for both heat sinking and "conduction". Water doesn't conduct so great, but it does naturally convect, with no need for a pump. It's like a heat pipe, but cheaper. The problem with trying to disperse the heat is that handheld laser units are too small to accommodate the surface area required for fast heat rejection. Sinking the heat into a water reservoir is extremely effective, cheap, simple, never wears out, and doesn't require a large surface area.

If you're convinced you need better heat conductance, without the complexity of heat pipes, but with the simplicity of convection, try using low melting point metal alloys. Just remember that gallium and mercury destroy aluminum and a few other metals too. Mercury, cadmium, and lead are very toxic and should be avoided.

The phase change from solid to liquid can be exploited for their superior heat sinking properties. While your low-temp alloy is in the process of melting, its temperature will not rise significantly. Tune the alloy to a safe working temperature of your diode, and it can sink the heat very well, while also conducting it well too. It's cheap, effective, and low tech. No pumps required!

The tens of watts that laser diodes dissipate as heat is pretty insignificant compared to the heat rejection capability of the numerous options available with no moving parts. With that said, I think it would be very cool to see a twisted-rope-looking assemblage of heat pipes wrapped around, and soldered to a solid copper pipe host. It would be grippy and pretty incredible for heat rejection. It could probably handle short duty cycles for lasers putting out kilowatts of heat, all in a handheld device.

Galinstan wets glass pretty well, which makes it a good choice for heat rejection in a CO2 laser tube, as long as there's nothing that reacts with the gallium. I think I just had a brilliant idea. I could build a miniaturized sophisticated assemblage of heat pipes (maybe), liquid and solid metal heat sinks, all for an array of diodes, tubes, or laser rods in a device no bigger than a common large host in use now.

With such incredible heat handling capacity, the problem isn't heat anymore - it's power! There's no batteries powerful enough to push that heat rejection system to anything even close to its limits. Just be sure to wear an oven glove while holding it :)

What do you think, should I put 5, 10, or 20 2W+ diodes in it? If I made it in an unusual form factor (staff, pistol, rifle, Blendtec, etc) then power and heat options become much more manageable. Set it all up into a beam combiner configuration, and you have 40W+ laser system.

Don't bother with safety glasses. Get life insurance instead.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
173
Points
0
I considered mercury as my heat transfer median. But I am going to just 'wet' some distilled water with either glycol or isopropyl. I am working with a machine shop to build a custom host so the head is done. I made a radiator but im going to use a water block instead.

Unless of course this pump the OP put up is...available to be purchased. I can work on a phase change system.
 

CCC

0
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
15
Points
3
You don't need a radiator or a pump. Put some BB's or a marble in with the water shroud, and all you have to do is shake the device to circulate the water faster than convection does it.

If you want to go more advanced, solder some copper wool to the inner surface of your shroud, and you'll have an unbelievable high surface area for the water to suck heat away from. Then, all you have to do is roll the handle of your laser between your hands to quickly rotate and accelerate the water around the shroud. It will instantly and evenly disperse the heat throughout the entire device, so the whole thing is one giant heat sink.

Simple, cheap, easy to make, and extremely effective. Just be careful with soldering the the copper wool. It's a bit tricky, and you might burn yourself or splash solder if you don't know what you're doing. It's springy, and can flick molten solder behind safety glasses, so wear a face shield and an apron.
 




Top