An extremely efficient fractal based radiator design inspired by the Peano space filling curve. While the design is probably very efficient in terms of transferring heat to the surrounding air via conduction, compared to traditional radiator designs, I get the feeling it may not be quite as effective at providing radiant heat, as the vast majority of it’s surface area is obscured by it’s own convolutions…
This is your brain when you’re not on drugs.
This would’ve made for a MUCH more interesting Star Trek Borg cube design.
So what you’re saying is that I should use this in my water-cooling system?
Cool design, but not paragraph is seriously confused about thermodynamics. These wouldn’t be efficient at heat transfer in any sense.
so where do i put the maple syrup, eh?
reboot, I’m a little rusty, but this seems to be designed to have the greatest surface-area per volume contact (at least for a given tube radius) with air. Now, granted, if there was no air flow it’d be extremely bad, but it seems to me if you just put a fan behind it it would very effectively generate warm air.
@ieattime20: If you have a fan it would be better, because then you are actually using convection, moving hot air way and moving in cool air. But air flow through that is going to be poor compared to a conventional liquid, cooled heat sink. It’s an issue of laminar vs. turbulent flow. The surface-area per volume isn’t maximizes at all; a coil with the same length of tubing would be much more effective.
I think for a given tube size this still maxes surf. area to volume, given that’s sort of what the Peano Curve is all about (just imagine a given length of coil, but unwind one of the turns and stick it through the middle; now the ‘underside’ of the coil isn’t touching other coil and instead touches air).
But you’re definitely right now that I think about it about the air flow; the coil has simple, non-chaotic airflow through it, ensuring efficient convection, while the Peano radiator goes all nuts.
…Kinda makes you almost wish for a screaming match instead, doesn’t it? Tonight, on MCS: Thermo- and fluid dynamics!
@reboot: I agree with most of the other who have posted here. For a tube of any given diameter, this is designed to maximize the surface area that can be presented to the surrounding air, for any given space.
So from a pure surface area per given volume perspective, it should provide very good conductive heat dissipation. However from a practical perspective, I think you would need to force air through it in order to fully reap the efficiencies of the additional surface area it provides.
That shit is tiny! You could fit at least 6 of those in the same space as 1 average sized radiator and it would probably be only 1/10 the wait. Along with its other efficiencies, this thing kicks the radiators ass.
@Phyreblade: The problem is that without forcing air (or some other cooling fluid) through this, the interior will reach thermal equilibrium and stop transferring any heat. If you scale this up beyond a few inches, it won’t have anymore cooling efficiency than a lumpy box. There is a reason why heat exchange systems aren’t just thrown in a knot like christmas lights.
And as I and ieattime20 have already discussed, the efficiency of the fluid flow around the tubing will be less than conventional designs.
Its a neat design, but there’s no efficiency gain.
wat?
Imagine trying to repair a broken part…or looking for possible damage…
OH HI! I UPDATED YOUR RUBIKS CUBE!
Looks like a map of the internet to me.