The cooling systems on high-performance PCs are often a large part of their visual appeal, but we’ve never seen anything like [DIY Perks]’ latest build: A massive bellow-cooled PC.
The system is derived from a silent bellow system built by [DIY Perks] in 2020. It uses a clever combination of hydraulics and neodymium magnets to smoothly reciprocate a large plate within a chamber. Instead of blowing the air straight into the room, it pushes it through a pair of wood ducts into a second chamber with PC components, and out through a water-cooling radiator. To prevent the hot air from being sucked back in as the bellow reciprocates, a row of check valves was added on each side of the PC chamber and at the external intakes. The sides of the bellow chamber and PC chamber are made of glass to allow a full view of the internal components.
The build was not without complications. While disassembling the old bellow, the acrylic tube in which the magnet reciprocates shattered. When a replacement rube arrived, [DIY Perks] discovered the magnet’s fit was very loose. He solved this by increasing the thickness of the magnet’s nickel coating with another run of electroplating. To achieve a uniform coating, he agitated the plating solution by suspending the magnet from a small speaker playing a sine-wave tone. The cooling performance is excellent, keeping the CPU and GPU at 60C or below, even while running them at full tilt.
The final product looks so good, we wouldn’t mind its massive size taking up space in our labs. This is true to form [DIY Perks], who has built some very attractive enclosures for speakers, monitors, and the PlayStation 5.
“Bellow-Cooled PC” is a better title in every way than “World’s First Breathing PC”. Well done.
I wonder how he manages to get the acrylic plate to slide on those far-apart but slim guide rods without jamming. Must be because of the roller-bearings he used which sit on those rods… To be fair the pushing/pulling force acts “exactly” in the middle, tho…
The effect in question is the “sticky drawer effect”. See:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schubladeneffekt
https://www.kalsi.com/handbook/D21_Sticky_drawer_effect.pdf
Also called “racking”, and a common issue with movements that are driven only from one side, like the Z axis on the cheaper 3D printers. There’s a few strategies to control it.
As my first try got redacted by the comment system:
I wonder how he manages to get the acrylic plate to slide on those far-apart but slim guide rods without jamming. Must be because of the roller-bearings he used which sit on those rods… To be fair the pushing/pulling force acts “exactly” in the middle, tho…
The effect in question is the “sticky drawer effect”. See:
h**ps://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schubladeneffekt
h**ps://www.kalsi.com/handbook/D21_Sticky_drawer_effect.pdf
When he build the fan, he actually initially had this issue, you can find his video that addresses it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Y7DHfoFOk it was more that it doesn’t need to be super tight.
There’s an earlier video of him making the bellows to use as a fan originally, it might help explain your question. At a glance, the way the upper and lower bearings stick out about an inch on either side might be helping with stopping the acrylic from turning under force.
My initial choice for a bellows requirement is.. a sub woofer. Diaphragm, a motor, mountings etc all included. And at the cost of a high volume product.
I’m imagining the bellow subwoofer is also part of the audio system. “Oh no, my CPU is starting to overheat. Better crank up the bass!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk
Funny.
Perhaps have a playlist that controlled by CPU temperature.
i’m sure there’s an elegant solution (a relative of a tesla valve) but superficially it seems like this puts a very difficult set of requirements on your check valves
Being a bit picky here, but I do believe the term is “bellows” not “bellow,” unless cooling is accomplished by shouting at the system (which is always a possiblity).
The term is “piston” actually.
Just got around to the video clip. You are absolutely correct! Bellows is not the correct definition.
double-acting pump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGF8eVhrD5c
It’s pretty darn cool. Not sure I’d call it bellows though, there is no set of bellows involved in the process.
It’s more of a ‘dual acting’ reciprocating piston pump/compressor with reed valves in my eyes.
While I don’t know how much pressure this produces but it looks like something that could be entered in the homemade ventilator derby we were having last year.
A cloth hinge and two boards covered with a raincoat fabric, and two flap hinges. Been done for over a thousand years in organ and forge. More elegant than the African demo iron furnace that has several male “things” that infuse the air from stepping on an animal bags of… I have to keep it G rated.
This project is fun to watch and has some nice engineering.
On the other hand, I like the idea of completely passive radiative cooling: nothing to break and no noise. There was a company in town where I live who made radiative cooled Intel based electrostatic discharge resistant Intel based computers intended for industrial use. Unfortunately there were not enough customers and the company did not stick around.
Looks like an alien pump that might show up on the original Star Trek shows. Another way to cool your PC and get exercise – pump bellows or fan with your feet.