PDA

View Full Version : liqued cooled amps...



rvrpig
03-23-2004, 01:32 AM
Has any one seen a place that sells liqued cooled amps? They use to be sold in the crutchfield catalog, but havent been able to locate them for a while....any ideas?

bigpapasean
03-23-2004, 01:48 AM
http://www.bazooka.com/productAutoAmplifiers.asp

rvrpig
03-23-2004, 10:58 AM
Hey thanks for the reply..i knew they made them and could not find them. My buddy has an amp under his seat and i kicks off between the heat of him using it and the lack of air flow. I hope his this works....thanks for the help.

Tom Brown
03-28-2004, 07:15 PM
I assume those amps use liquid convection cooling?
I wonder how hard it would be to open that loop and pump some water through it.

Havasu Hangin'
03-28-2004, 07:32 PM
Originally posted by Tom Brown
I wonder how hard it would be to open that loop and pump some water through it.
I always wondered about that myself.
River"I make billet anything"Dave should be able to fabricate a cooling housing.
A couple fittings, a pump, and some hose...

Tom Brown
03-28-2004, 07:45 PM
Throw in an automotive heater core, some Prestone, a couple of 120mm fans and you've got yourself a closed loop cooling system. You can remove a lot of heat with a decent auto heater core.
Alternately, you could open up a non-liquid cooled amp and attach the power supply and output ICs to some square aluminum thick-wall pipe. Close in the ends of the pipe, drill and tap for 1/4" NPT and you've turned an expensive bling-bling amp into a sub-HeathKit looking contraption. :D
The square aluminum pipe idea might be interesting to try, even if it is just press fitted against the stock external heat sinks.

ROZ
03-28-2004, 07:55 PM
Party Cat is suppose to be doing exactly this for his ppi amps...

Havasu Hangin'
03-28-2004, 08:01 PM
Actually...I was thinking just tap into the lakewater...
I wonder how the stock amp heatsinks will transfer heat to some kind of external aluminum housing?
Some of the show cars are using liquid-cooled amps with clear tubing and neon antifreeze...very cool (pardon the expression).

ROZ
03-28-2004, 10:16 PM
Originally posted by Havasu Hangin'
I wonder how the stock amp heatsinks will transfer heat to some kind of external aluminum housing?
Since aluminum transfers heat(or cold) fairly well, I'd think that you could devise a aluminum base that has cooling veins inside it that is mounted beneath the amp's cooling fins. The heatsink and coolsink( ;) ) may have to make contact for this to work..
or
Replace the OEM heatsink with a new billett aluminum unit that appears OEm but has taller or longer dooling fins with a tube that runs through the middle of them the length of the amp... You could probally use AN fittings... It woiuld be easy on an amp like the JL's (totally exposed heatsink), but other bands might be a little tougher.
Ironically, I have an older Punch amp we can use if you want to give it a go... Heck maybe I'll do it :D
EDIT: Maybe create watercooled amp rails.....

Tom Brown
03-28-2004, 11:55 PM
I think you'll be disappointed with the heat transfer unless you can get the liquid fairly close to the heat source. It will still be better than nothing if you can touch a cold aluminum object to the tips of the heat sinks... just not much better than nothing.
I believe replacing the OEM heatsink is the best idea. There's no need for fins as you aren't going to use air cooling. Just use square aluminum pipe, close off the ends, and tap somewhere close to each end for fittings.
On something like the JL Audio 1000/1, you could replace the rear heatsink with a 2” x 0.250 wall square aluminum pipe. The height of the amp is 2 1/3” so a 2” pipe would be about right. One side of the pipe could be drilled/tapped with the same pattern as the old heatsink so you could just screw the output ICs to it (I'm assuming they used TO-220 style output ICs in the 1000/1).

ROZ
03-29-2004, 02:34 PM
http://home.indy.net/~seanmac/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/amp_3.jpg Above with end panel removed showing the two passage ways for the liquid cooling capability. Using freon/water and a small radiator and pump, the amp is able to be liquid cooled. i'm not sure if all a-series have these built into the heat sinks?
It looks as if PPI use to offer it...
Here's another:http://www.damnloud.com/wade/big/neon006.jpg

ROZ
03-29-2004, 02:42 PM
http://store4.yimg.com/I/xoxide_1782_6210573

ROZ
03-29-2004, 03:25 PM
I'm thinking that condensation may be a problem... Tom? Jeff?

Tom Brown
03-29-2004, 04:21 PM
Putting a barb in the end of those PPI heat sinks is the obvious choice but the cooling passages aren't real close to the output ICs. Still, it would probably help.
That plate looks interesting but I think you could make something much better. Just cut an 1/8" thick copper plate to the size of the bottom of an amp and then solder some small tubing to the under side of the plate. Make sure the tubing serpentines back and forth as much as possible and then set the amp on the flat side of the cooling plate. I've built CPU coolers like that and they've been quite effective.
Hey... how about this for an air-cooling idea...
What if you were to build a 3 sided duct/cover that runs the length of the amps. It could easily be made out of clear or smoked polycarbonate as polycarbonate bends easily in a sheet metal brake. You could then put a pair of undervolted 80 or 120 mm axial fans in one end of the tube and have a pretty good airflow over all surfaces. I would think that would be about as good as aircooling would get and it would look trick too.
I've lowered chipset temperatures 15C just by getting decent airflow over the hot surfaces. It's far more effective than having freeair fan blowing on one part of a hot surface.

ROZ
03-29-2004, 05:06 PM
I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm sure RD has one of them sheetmetal brakes;) I think I can order the 80mm fans through our parts department....

Tom Brown
03-29-2004, 05:25 PM
I have one too, ROZ. Do you have some dimensions and maybe a pick of an install you'd like to try it on?