Liquid Cooled/Immersed diode module

[532 with Envy]

Howdy all!

I have seen quite a few cool set-ups that people have done immersing the whole computer in mineral oil or a non-conductive liquid. Naturally I thought of lasers and started to build something that my work.

This design will be changed around quite a bit when I build again, but this was really a proof of concept and it worked!

The two tubes, one for the diode and one for the reservoir are standard acrylic tubing, there is a aluminum heat-sink for the Aixiz module but I left the leads off the diode bare and unprotected. I am direct driving the diode off my bench top PSU because I didn't have any spare drivers that seemed to work.:thinking:

The pump I found is a mini-mini pump made for remote control submarine bellows. It's pretty noisy but works well with the thicker mineral oil that i'm using for cooling.

I also added a TEC unit, not sure if this will make much difference because I didn't set my temperature gauge deep enough in the reservoir and it's now ENCASED in epoxy!(one of the design changes that will come in future builds)

So without further ado, my Liquid Cooled Diode Module.

Here is the Aixiz module hanging out to show the bare wiring. I secured it in with some Arctic Silver instead of the epoxy you will see covering the whole thing.

Here is the little pump....in testing I did notice that running the thicker liquid through it was heating it up, so the Heat-sinks hopefully will save it for a bit longer.

Now onto a couple of other photo's....I wish I would have sunk the temperature probe a bit deeper into the reservoir but it looks cool at least

Here i'm doing the filling of the unit....one of the major design flaws....I ended up having to tip the whole thing 90 degrees to fill it enough.

Finally all buttoned up! Enough epoxy that it doesn't leak so ready to fire up and see if it shorts out or actually works.

Hard to see, but this is a photo of the unit closed up and you can see the open diode pins and wiring in the oil.

And now a couple of short videos.
The first is a short test of the pump, looking for flow and any leaks. Everything seems to work fine.

The second video of the laser actually working immersed in the Mineral Oil!

THANKS FOR LOOKIN':beer:

 

[offroadfreak8582]

Awesome :beer: It would be so cool to have that in a handheld

greetings,,

 

[532 with Envy]

We will see about a handheld.:beer:

For now I want to redesign for easier filling and get the temperature prob right in the oil.


Edit: I did a 10min test on the LPM(for some reason it failed to save the reading). It seemed pretty stable. The temperature sensor did show a rise over a bit of time even though it's not submerged and when I turned on the TEC I think the rise in temperature slowed a bit.

 

[T_Warne]

Very cool! ( pun intended)

 

[cheech226]

great concept actualized. how does mineral oil rate among common fluids for heat removal?

 

[532 with Envy]

great concept actualized. how does mineral oil rate among common fluids for heat removal?

Not sure on the scientific side for how well it works. There is a non-conductive liquid i'v seen that is as thin as water but it get pretty expensive.
As you said, a concept actualization more than a full blown experiment.:wave:

 

[T_Warne]

When I first looked at the pictures all I saw was a multi chamber "water pipe".

It took a second for my brain to register what I was really seeing.

 

[532 with Envy]

Yeah, sorry for the poor photo and video quality.


My Hookah does a much better job.:shhh:

 

[jeffreythe00]

it would probably help if you could get your hands on an FLIR

 

[532 with Envy]

FLIR?.....http://www.flir.com/US/

This was very much just a concept. I want to improve it and already have some re-build ideas. Mostly i'm just happy that the diode worked while immersed in the oil.

 

[jeffreythe00]

One of these - FLIR i7 BRAND NEW Infrared Color Thermal Imaging Camera 140 x 140 Resolution 793950490075 | eBay

You could see whats going on in real time and see real temp changes as they happen.

Of course it works in mineral oil

Heres a GREAT example. Mineral oil computer - YouTube

 

[532 with Envy]

LOL...of course a beautiful Thermal Imaging System like that would be a GREAT addition to my collection, but that just ain't going to happen. I don't know how many times i'v looked into "cheap" systems or even putting one together from parts. There's just no way to go at it without spending quite a bit. You can do a little make-shift infrared camera out of your web cam, but it's just not the same.

The YouTube video was one of my inspirations for the build. There are a couple of good examples out there of whole computer immersed in mineral oil or some other kind of non-conductive liquid. From what I read though, many of these fluids/liquids can 'become' conductive if contaminated.
Still more reading and epoxying to do

 

[Things]

Awesome!

Was gonna say, chuck a TEC on that setup and you'd ave some badass cooling, but condensation becomes a problem quick:

Dan

 

[532 with Envy]

Awesome!

Was gonna say, chuck a TEC on that setup and you'd ave some badass cooling, but condensation becomes a problem quick:

Dan

LOL...I love that photo.

There is a TEC unit right under the main reservoir.

I think the TEC may do a bit at controlling the oil temperature but would work a lot better with some other, not so viscous, non-conductive liquid. I'v read that common cooling liquids for computer systems are not the best choice when immersing electronics and most of the 3M products are not cheap.

I'm already thinking about a new design and better ways of sealing the whole thing instead of just coating it with epoxy.(although it does seem to hold).

Thanks to all :beer:.....hopefully sometime in the near'ish future i'll post some updates to the build(or re-build)

 

[Cyparagon]

I suspect your thermal coupling to the coolant is almost non-existent. Acrylic is an insulator.

 

[532 with Envy]

I suspect your thermal coupling to the coolant is almost non-existent. Acrylic is an insulator.

There is a metal base on the reservoir connecting to the TEC, but i'm sure you right that Acrylic is not the best choice.(just happen to have it around)

Perhaps glass may be a bit less of an insulator? I'd love to keep the visual side of the next build, being able to view the liquid in movement. I'm also thinking of submersing a driver as well, perhaps a flexmod :tinfoil:

If anyone has a link for non-conductive fluid(not the stuff used for computer modding please) I would appreciate the help. I like the Mineral oil, and i'v also read that distilled water "could" work, but would rather to do it right with the real stuff.