liquid metal cooling loop

[Storm-Chaser]

One of my side topics of interest are nuclear reactors, so that was what prompted me in the first place, as some nuclear reactors are actually cooled by liquid metal and it is extremely effective, and known as the "ultimate" coolant. I want to get a few things straight so you guys don't think I've gone off the deep end:

 

1) This is a long term project - It will likely take at least 6 months to a year to design and build and impliment what I am envisioning.
2) This is not practical in any sense of the word - I find it very intriguing, however, and I have a very curious mind, so yes, while early on it will be experimental, I do eventually hope to come up with a liquid metal cooling "solution" that perhaps could be developed into a real product for overclocking enthusiasts.
3) This is not going to be cheap. Gallium costs about $100 for a 1/2 cup, to put things in perspective.
4) This is totally experimental for the moment, but I think I can make it work, and if I do I will try to come up with a kit or formula that other hardcore OC people can buy and implement themselves.
5) This will be a great covid project as I dont see us coming out of this pandemic anytime soon lol

[Storm-Chaser]

I found the perfect prototype for testing. This is a z820 liquid cooler and it's ultra compact design lends itself well for being a test bed for Galinstan. Also, since it's so compact it wont require very much liquid metal for the tests to proceed. 

 

 

I am buying a couple vials of Galinstan (which is nearly identical in composition to LM thermal paste mostly gallium, some tin and one other alloy) and should be able to keep the costs under $100. 

 

The z820 liquid cooler has two lines coming out of the back of the radiator, down to the pump, making it very easy to drain the old coolant and replace it with gallium. 

 

I suspect the HP radiator is aluminum so these will be short and quick tests to measure baselines under stress loads. 

 

If the performance data looks good, I'm going to go ahead and purchase a couple of these copper rads to replace the pre-existing rads. at that point we will have to just monitor the pump and make sure flow rate is good. ( can add another pump later if needed)

 

[bonami2]

I love this idea!

Galium 40.6 W/mK

Water 0.598 W/m·K

 

I wonder the wear effect on pump maybe a metal propeler would be needed.

 

 

[Storm-Chaser]

1 hour ago, bonami2 said:

I love this idea!

Galium 40.6 W/mK

Water 0.598 W/m·K

 

I wonder the wear effect on pump maybe a metal propeler would be needed.

 

 

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It would have to be copper or industrial rated to not corrode in the presence of gallium. It has twice the viscosity of water, but I think the motors will be able to handle it. 

[bonami2]

3 minutes ago, Storm-Chaser said:

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It would have to be copper or industrial rated to not corrode in the presence of gallium. It has twice the viscosity of water, but I think the motors will be able to handle it. 

If it just twice i would not worry mineral oil must be close and they use fish pump i think for those special build.

[Storm-Chaser]

4 minutes ago, bonami2 said:

If it just twice i would not worry mineral oil must be close and they use fish pump i think for those special build.

Only thing I don't know is the quantity of coolant in the HP z820 rad. so I'm starting with 200 grams of pure gallium, but I'm not sure if that will be enough. 

 

EDIT: Also have to modify the gallium to lower the melting point, because pure gallium melts at 85*F.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Storm-Chaser

[bonami2]

8 minutes ago, Storm-Chaser said:

Only thing I don't know is the quantity of coolant in the HP z820 rad. so I'm starting with 200 grams of pure gallium, but I'm not sure if that will be enough. 

 

That something i did not even think about. 200 gram of gallium is probably not a lot. I dont know how heavy it is vs ml

I think it 6 time less in ml if google is giving me good advice but i cant says. So we have a problem maybe.

 

Am using ml as milliliter

Edited May 5, 2022 by bonami2

[Storm-Chaser]

8 minutes ago, bonami2 said:

That something i did not even think about. 200 gram of gallium is probably not a lot. I dont know how heavy it is.

I think it 6 time less in ml if google is giving me good advice but i cant says. So we have a problem maybe.

Yeah I might have to spend some bank on this one (galinstan is very expensive, even cost prohibitive. However, due to the compact nature of these coolers it's the most obvious way to get performance data, even if I have to sacrifice a z820 cooler in the process. 

 

You can see we are dealing with a very low volume loop here: Also no right angles. 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Storm-Chaser

[Storm-Chaser]

 

[bonami2]

Ohh i just read about galinstan it stay liquid at colder temp.

 

That rad is small enough it should be alright.

 

Imagine a coolant loop in copper with galium inside .

[Storm-Chaser]

1 minute ago, bonami2 said:

Ohh i just read about galinstan it stay liquid at colder temp.

 

That rad is small enough it should be alright.

 

Imagine a coolant loop in copper with galium inside .

Or better yet, braided stainless steal 

 

 

 

[bonami2]

9 minutes ago, Storm-Chaser said:

Or better yet, braided stainless steal 

 

 

 

With those line if you had gallon of galium you could just turn it around inside the case like a coil and use case fan as cooling

[Storm-Chaser]

3 hours ago, bonami2 said:

That rad is small enough it should be alright.

What do you mean?

[bonami2]

9 hours ago, Storm-Chaser said:

What do you mean?

I mean it won't use a gallon of gallium.  

[bonami2]

Found some bad result here not too sure the project is possible seem ways harder than i was thinking. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Gallium (Liquid Metal Cooled PC) - Build Logs - Linus Tech Tips

LINUSTECHTIPS.COM

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Project Gallium Hi I am the photographer and now i guess the pr guy too of a very small modding team named elemental computers. Another...

 

 

And here : 

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by bonami2

[Storm-Chaser]

40 minutes ago, bonami2 said:

Found some bad result here not too sure the project is possible seem ways harder than i was thinking. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Gallium (Liquid Metal Cooled PC) - Build Logs - Linus Tech Tips

LINUSTECHTIPS.COM

---

Project Gallium Hi I am the photographer and now i guess the pr guy too of a very small modding team named elemental computers. Another...

 

 

And here : 

 

It's cost prohibitive, but I'm still going to see if i can make it work on a small scale cooler like the z820 so I don't have to break the bank. If I get the thermals i like I can order an all copper radiator to replace it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Storm-Chaser]

What do you see as the most challenging part of this operation?

[Storm-Chaser]

Good news!

 

I just found out the z820/z840 coolers only hold about 50-60cc of water/coolant which means I can do this on the cheap.

TRYING TO FIND PROPER COOLANT AND APPROXIMATE AMOUNT NEEDED ... - HP Support Community - 8193235

H30434.WWW3.HP.COM

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I have a few  HP Z820 Liquid Cooling CPU Heatsink 635869 that i am refurbishing, and after investigating ad nauseum can't find a definitive answer to: 1. what coolant should i use to refill these (HP...

 

Sorry! Something went wrong!

WWW.AMAZON.COM

 

 

[bonami2]

6 minutes ago, Storm-Chaser said:

Good news!

 

I just found out the z820/z840 coolers only hold about 50-60cc of water/coolant which means I can do this on the cheap.

TRYING TO FIND PROPER COOLANT AND APPROXIMATE AMOUNT NEEDED ... - HP Support Community - 8193235

H30434.WWW3.HP.COM

---

I have a few  HP Z820 Liquid Cooling CPU Heatsink 635869 that i am refurbishing, and after investigating ad nauseum can't find a definitive answer to: 1. what coolant should i use to refill these (HP...

 

Sorry! Something went wrong!

WWW.AMAZON.COM

 

 

 

 

Oh that ways less than i was expecting!   The worst part i think is corosion because i don't know if Copper rad are really 100% copper. I know that liquid metal can corrode copper/zinc a little that why some people have to sand down heatsink before reaplying liquid metal.

 

Performance wise i think the waterblock may be an issue. Since the liquid metal is thicker i dont know how the flow gonna contact with the surface of it without just bouncing back on the Galium already in contact with the fin.

[Storm-Chaser]

I have not dismantled the z820 cooler yet so I don't know what the water block looks like but I'm hoping it will be fine for this purpose. I know it's full copper, so that's good.

 

I have found this all copper 92mm radiator that *should* fit under the hood.  Stock cooler is 90mm.

 

Amazon.com

WWW.AMAZON.COM

 

[Storm-Chaser]

MagiCool Premium Series Copper 80mm Radiator - Black (LC-RADI80) - FrozenCPU.com

WWW.FROZENCPU.COM

 

This one is only 80mm so I am assured it will fit, just at a performance penalty. 

 

[bonami2]

1 minute ago, Storm-Chaser said:

MagiCool Premium Series Copper 80mm Radiator - Black (LC-RADI80) - FrozenCPU.com

WWW.FROZENCPU.COM

 

This one is only 80mm so I am assured it will fit, just at a performance penalty. 

 

 

 

Both seem good the first use steel brass copper and the 80mm Copper and brass by the spec.

 

Just need to test it with the block and see how it go 

 

 

[ENTERPRISE]

Subbed for sure, I would love to see how this turns out, certainly a great experiment. 

[Storm-Chaser]

Yes, indeed. Very curious myself. Glad I can finally start moving on this again.

 

Im going to test this out in my z840 for the primary reason it has two 145W tdp CPUs. So we will be pushing both coolers to the limit @ 290W (pwr limit) . I will keep one processor stock with factory liquid cooling so it will be water vs gallium head to head. That way we can compare performance real time. 

 

Just ordered all the ingredients I will need to make Galinstan.

Good down to 32*F. So I can use the chiller, or at least test with the chiller and see what we get.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

Just picked up the last of the gallium I need to fill the cooler.

 

I will be using a Z820 water cooler for this. It's easy to open the loop and it's a very low volume system, so I don't need a whole lot of gallium for this test.

 

I converted the gallium to Galinstan by adding a quantity of tin and indium. It should now be good down until about 40*F. 

 

If this proves the concept I will be adding one of these to another system, it's very compact and should hold up fairly well to liquid metal.

Z820 cooler:

 

 

 

If proof of concept is a good result, I will try liquid metal with this:

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Storm-Chaser