Flexible Heat Pipes

S

Swordfish45

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
137
Im making a personal cooling device for paintball, and im looking for flexible heat piping. Ive googled a hole through my mouse.

Throw me a bone and me love you long time.

thnx
 
Bad News.

There is no such thing as a flexible heatpipe.

Heatpipes are designed using precise volumes and pressures.Having a flexible heatpipe would change the volume......
 
I've been considering the same thing.... I want to make water cooled underwear for work.

I'm thinking a small pump and peltier powered by a 9v battery. The only problem is, what would you use for a heatsink? a water block could be mighty uncomfortable...
maybe a water block with a heat spreader...(heat pipe) tinfoil maybe? Copper wire might make due? or maybe even just a fluid filled sack? I suppose if the fluid is cold a plastic pouch might conduct heat just right. (wouldnt want 40*f metal against my skin)

http://techniche-intl.com/ sells "phase change" cooled clothing... but its basicly a frozen substance that melts at 55-60*f
 
Wait... You're making Water cooled UNDERWEAR?

Did I read that right???

For work? What... Do you... do... that requires... watercooled underwear :eek:
 
it gets pritty hot in the warehouse... I'd like to cool all of the hotspots (armpits, neck, etc) But I'd start with wc underware...

I dono... maybe its just me, but I dont like sweaty balls...
 
Heh....

It's actually a damn good idea.

I've been thinking of a watercooled 'rough leather' jacket for welding . I do a lot of welding in the hot sun...and you can't be in a teeshirt....sun at yer front , sun at yer back... :(
 
I swear, some company was showing off flexible heatpipes at cebit or something...

It was the same brand that made the cnps9500 look alike
 
A good idea, but I honestly don't see something like this feasible. If you use water-cooling without active cooling (i.e. a pelt or compressor) the coolest the underside of the "block" (or whatever you use) can get is a little over ambient. In practice on a human body, this would probably not work well. Adding an active cooler such as a TEC would only complicate things and get in the way of your body moving. A backpack compressor type rig (basically a mobile back-strapped air conditioner) MIGHT work, but you would probably need to plug in with an extension cord.

Then again, I could have sworn reading something about troops in Iraq using a cooling device to help keep their bodies cool in the desert. I remember reading that water was involved, but that is about it.

Perhaps there is some sort of gel substance that retains its cold temperature when a voltage is applied, as opposed to getting warmer. You might want to look into this.
 
The link I posted earlyer is what the military uses...
Its a substance that slowly melts at 55*F by melting, the solution maintains a constant 55*F until it has completely melted. it lasts about 3 hours according to them.
As far as water cooling, it will work, but only as long as the ambiant temperature is below 90*F. Above 85-90 you will need an active sub ambiant cooling device like a pelt. There is no reason you cant use a low powered pelt to give you another 5-10*F Its hard to say how long a couple 9V batteries would last. or maybe 6V lantern batteries.
 
nhusby said:
it gets pritty hot in the warehouse... I'd like to cool all of the hotspots (armpits, neck, etc) But I'd start with wc underware...

I dono... maybe its just me, but I dont like sweaty balls...
Click to expand...
rofl i dont think any guy does....
 
BrainEater said:
Bad News.

There is no such thing as a flexible heatpipe.

Heatpipes are designed using precise volumes and pressures.Having a flexible heatpipe would change the volume......
Click to expand...


I bet braided stainless hose (as in high-end brake/fuel lines) could work, being somewhat flexible without excessive internal volume change...
 
Hmm....that's interesting.

I actually use hose like you describe everyday ; it's 2x stainless braid and rubber (10000 psi oil hydraulic hose).While heatpipes are reduced pressure rather than high pressure the principle still applies.

Not that a hose like this is even slightly flexible @ 10000 psi . :D

The main thing about decent heatpipes being rigid is due to the 'wicking' material used to provide the ability to operate in any orientation.It's typically a 'sintered-in-place' ceramic I do believe.

From what I've read , you can use copper wool as a wicking material inside a heatpipe , and it's not like a heatpipe won't work within a range of volumes (and pressures).

I say it's probably possible , but i think It might be less efficient than plain old watercooling.It certainly deserves some experimentation i think tho.
 
@OP: What is your reasoning for this need? I know everyone else has gone on a tangent, but realisitically I am not sure what you are looking for. I mean if you buy regular copper heatpipes you can bend them with your hand as they aren't too stiff...

@underwear weirdos: There is always NASA's space suits...


Here is a link to some Cooling type garments:
http://www.climatechsafety.com/Products.htm?referrer=Google
 
Just to make a point, to use electricity to help you cool something down, its obviously not going to be in direct application to the cooling substance, like a gel as DarkenReaper57 mentioned. Electricity is the flow of electrons, and that produces heat, therefore its impossible to directly cool something with electricity itself. But on the note of coolant clothing, you could use the cold-patch concept. When two (specific) chemicals combine it forms an endothermic reaction that absorbs heat (or otherwise, becomes cold). It would be temporary to the extent of the amount and type that you use, but it works :)
 
To clarify: I have seen two types of flexible heatsinks in picture examples of some comp-cooling articles, but no details. One type is a style of hose that BrainEater was talking about, on a smaller scale. The other type looked like a single-axis flex, flat heatpipe.


Here's my exact application,

I have a galvanized copper collar with a 40x40mm peltier powered by a 9v. My initial dissipation solution was a Nbridge cooler, but at full current flow, the pelt was too powerful and the little hs/fan couldn't handle it.

My other solution was to create a congruent collar to mount on the other side like an outer shell studded with little heatsinks. The solid copper (or just the otuer zinc layer, im too lazy to take some muratic acid to it) doesn't transoprt heat fast enough.

My last theory is to get rid of the outer shell, and reduce on-neck weight. And mount 2 flexible heatpipes to a large heatsink unit on my back. I have a Spec-Ops Broadsword 6 paintball tac-vest which has a large 3"x10" velcro patch for a name tag whitch i could put the heatsink kit on.


Watercooled underwear... huh.
That also has some paintball applicaiton... put an armored cooling insert in to some boxer/briefs and you got a pair of $70 Dye Slider Shorts that keep your balls tight to ya. That's better than a cramped cup....

Watercooled underwear.............
 
"Luckily, flexible heatpipes do exist, but unfortunately, they are not very practically used and cost a lot to make" -Bill Liu "The Heatpipe Guy"

They Do Exist

still looking though
 
b2t:
Even if it's not a "real" heatpipe, I found something in a german oc forum that is comparable to it and may hit swordfishs expectation.
This thing is flexible to a limited amount. u can give those bands a radius of max. 12mm...with your bare hands at room temperature. They are not as good as a real heat pipe, but work similar...except they have no gas but some sort of solid powder in it.
The forum admins are still testing them...may it'll help.

http://www.thermotekusa.com/phaseplane.html

The costs are (imho) low...about 10-20$ for "normal" size...but they can even produce them up to a length of 2,4 km. (so u paintballers can wrap yourself completly in it and build your own knight's armour)

if anybody is interested in the ongoing testing process...u'll find it here:
http://www.teschke.de/heatpipes/Neues/Infos/Produktinfos/PhasePlane/phaseplane.html
 
hey guys in the race car world they have shirts with like plstic pipes in em for race car drivers you have no idea how hot a race car can get after 3 or 4 hours with a full fire suit and an exposed motor and headers inthe same cabin as you

nascar nhra and cart drivers wear em its basically an igloo with pump and ice in it pretty compact and small good for a few hours
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top