portable mini fridge and lasers

[andy_con]

ive just been given a mini fridge for free and ive just taken it to bits.

It seems perfect for keeping my scanner cool, all it is, is a peltier, heat sink and fan on a big metal plate.

anyone else tried this???

[aijii]

One question... why ?

[andy_con]

well it has a big metal plate in it, which im gona flatten out and then mount in my box. The peltier is already mounted to the metal plate, so im hoping will cool perfect.

[dave]

if you are not careful, you will probably get condensation issues.

IMO, not necessary.

Dave

[aijii]

yeah it just sounds like a solution in search of a problem... why do you want to cool your scanners that much anyway ?

Maybe just put ur mini fridge back together and use it to keep your beers cold...

[andy_con]

LOL it was just an idea.

i got the fridge for free and i like taking things to bits

[The_Doctor]

Why not get another smaller 12V TEC, stick that on it, see how low you can go, maybe stick a DVD drive diode on it and see if you can get it to put out 200mW or more at 645 nm or less.

If it works, I promise you, the beer will taste even better.

[eyceage]

all it is, is a peltier, heat sink and fan on a big metal plate.

I think if you had a good way to control power to the peltier you could run it at partial capacity and avoid condensation problems (+get longer peltier life).

On my big TEC, I adjust the voltage to the fan along with the peltier - so that it runs very quietly at low power. At some point all you need is the heat sink (the benefit of running components at 5% capacity).

I don't see why it wouldn't work - if it were me I'd try it and see!

And as you said, it was free.

[MechEng3]

Why not just use a controller >PID< and run the TEC at its rated power and amperage to take advantage of it's cooling potential? You already have the heat sink in hand. It should handle the watts of heat generated by the TEC it was on if a good fan is used. I have a program here somewhere to calculate heat dissapation on a given surface area for Watt/amp TEC and shows amount of cooling needed in cfm's and size of minimum heat sink required.

[liteglow]

I have done it
(not on a laser)

But I did disamble a mini-fridge, and there was a small peltier inside there.
(much smaller than a CPU computer peltier)

But the effect from the peltier was SCARY powerfull !!!
I did mount the peltier on a alu-qube on the cold side, and the other side a powerful fan to take away the heat..

Then I did drop the alu-qube into a glass of water, after 10 min there was a HUGE iceblock on the cold side of the peltier !!
Pretty cool how much that little peltier can cool down ..


Here is a picture :

http://www.mittgallery.net/album31/DSCF0043?full=1

You have to CLICK the link.. becouse I DONT FIND THE IMG TABS !!?!?!?!