ALPHACOOL - ideas for IMPROVING products and NEW products

[BoggledBeagle]

I think it would be practical to have threads for manufacturers to visit and see the ideas of customers in one place.

I will make a first one for Alphacool with one idea of making a different version of a current product and one idea for a new product:

1) I am thinking about making an external enclosure for radiators, and for that I would need a parallel distribution block to connect all radiators to.

I noticed that Alphacool ES Distro Plate Parallel C5 has a weird (and IMO useless) pass through in the corner, would not it be better to make a completely universal parallel distribution block version? Current version up, suggestion below:


2) Speaking about external radiator boxes, why not make some boxes for a few most common sizes of radiators?

1. They would have openings for radiators on all 4 sides, with an option to clip on dustfilters.
2. Some plates (two?) should be supplied to block momentarilly unused rad openings
3. The ceiling would be supplied in two versions, one highly perforated for the fans on each rad and the second with a cutout for one fan for a semi-passive operation
4. In the bottom there should be pre-mounted parallel distribution block, possibly with just 4 inlets and outlets and a little prolonged on one side, so that rad connections area is in the middle of the bottom of the box and the side with common inlet and outlet reaches the side panel of the box.
5. They could be supplied as flatpacks.
6. I have not researched how a chimney effects works in such enclosures, but an optional upper extencion could be sold to facilitate this effect for a completely passive operation
7. Some (optional?) fan hub with sufficiently long power and PWM leads to the PC would also be useful.

I think I will add more ideas about the radiator boxes later.

 

[Waldorf]

there are already units/frames where (at least) the rad sits externally on top of the case,
and there are external passive/active rads that negate the use of another "box".

while almost 20y i used a plastic storage container to have rad/fans/pump/res 6ft away,
it was only to not here it.
nowadays i would prefer any external rad, to be "free standing", and allow some heat to radiate away,
instead of just the fans cooling it.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

nowadays i would prefer any external rad, to be "free standing", and allow some heat to radiate away,

I am planning to make a box for four 280 rads and have the upper part extending at least 30 cm above the rads to see, it this can estabish some chimney passive self cooling effect. The problem is that it will be made of wood and will not look good. My self made creations for some reason never look good...

 

[Waldorf]

why not look at he plastic/pvc sheet stuff you can find in home improvement stores?
as long as you use some sort of "bracing" to prevent warping under weight, it would be fine.
or an outer frame/brackets from alu, with slots for the sheets to sit in, if done on all 4 sides,
should work as well.

maybe look at some cheap midi cases and just cut out stuff not needed?

 

[BoggledBeagle]

why not look at he plastic/pvc sheet stuff you can find in home improvement stores?
as long as you use some sort of "bracing" to prevent warping under weight, it would be fine.
or an outer frame/brackets from alu, with slots for the sheets to sit in, if done on all 4 sides,
should work as well.

The rads can stand on the bottom, not much weight support is needed, I think I can make the test version of the box just from cardboard to test, how it works.

maybe look at some cheap midi cases and just cut out stuff not needed?

Unfortunately such cases do not have good options to mount rads inside, you would need to modify them so much, that it slowly loses the sense, and they would work just with fans on each rad.

 

[Waldorf]

?
front/top can mount a rad on almost all midi cases, some even on the bottom,
side panels can be cut/drilled to mount 1-2 more..