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I'm curious about whether a typical liquid CPU cooler (like, e.g., this Corsair H60) would be able to effectively cool a square sheet of aluminum with 15" sides and a thickness of 1/8".

I'm not even sure how to properly formulate the question so I'll describe the envisioned application. I'd attach the cooling plate to the bottom of the aluminum sheet and build a case for it with a cut-out for the fan. The result would (hopefully) be a refrigerated cooling pad for my constantly overheating laptop.

Is such an idea feasible? How powerful of a cooler would be needed to effectively chill such a sheet of aluminum?

Assume an ambient room temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and that the bottom of the laptop is roughly 160 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd like to reduce the temperature of the bottom of the laptop to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The bottom of the laptop is aluminum and about 15"x15". There is a gap between the aluminum sheet and the laptop bottom of about 1/8".

Air
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Dennis
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2 Answers2

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Even if the CPU cooler could make the patch of aluminum it was attached to exactly equal to atmospheric temperature, your plate would be much worse than a fan based cooler. The 1/8 inch air gap forms a very good insulator, so getting air moving along the surface of the laptop bottom is much better at cooling it than providing a heat sink 1/8 inch away.

Eph
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Your best bet may be to make a hole in the aluminium sheet and mount the fan to either blow or suck the air from between the laptop base and the aluminium sheet ie using the 1/8" gap...

Solar Mike
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