A major concern for any electronic designer is tackling with the heat of the gadget. The designs are inclined towards producing less heat and disposing off the heat. Relatively larger devices like servers or gaming rig computers have specialized cooling systems (such as fans or air cooled ambiences). On the other hand, the smaller devices never raised much of a concern with their limited configuration and applications. But, now that we have arrived in the era of portability, small yet powerful is what we desire. Keeping the heat down, hence, is a necessity. This is an essential challenge for the DIY enthusiast and becomes more vital yet basic when you use a computer board like Raspberry Pi. Obviously, you cannot plug in a fan (at least thrice of a Pi in terms of size) or trade off its portability by using it in an air cooled ambience only. An interesting and innovative effort in this direction has been made in cooling a Raspberry Pi by using water. No, we are not splashing water droplets on the board, but instead are exploring a sophisticated way to cool the Pi off, without disturbing its electrical characteristics.
A simple DIY, this cooling system is assembled using a few plastic tubes, a copper coin, waterproof sealant, some glue and some real good patience for precision. Since, the end result of this DIY is water and electricity coming in at the same moment; the need of testing for leaks and sealing the cooler is foremost.
What the end result can fetch you here is ARM processor of your Pi, nicely being cooled off and the heat problem not bothering you for a considerable time.
This DIY has a lot of plastic accessories in it and gives makers an option to 3D print some of them. Also, there are options of replacing water with a better coolant, but availability and coolant change might be an issue. It is, however, majorly dependent on the kind of application that the Pi is involved into.
Filed Under: Reviews