Custom made laptop cooler

Hey all! Well, I recently purchased a Clevo P170HM, specs in my sig, all the bells and whistles. With a 2 year old son and another baby on the way, my office is being converted to a bedroom for the new baby, hence I am now using a laptop instead of a desktop.

That said, gaming is now done on the couch. However I haven't found any decent laptop coolers that are made for good cooling on your lap. Everything is oriented for desks.

I am a CNC programmer/Mechanical Designer and have at my disposal several industrial machines for processing sheet metal. 3 turret punch presses, a Mitsubishi industrial laser, an Amada Pulsar, and a Trumpf 6000L laser/punch combo. So I've decided to make my own laptop cooler out of 0.060" aluminum.

I've already sketched out a design. I'm going to whip up a model in Solidworks today and will upload it so you can all see.

So the design is all taken care of. The difficulty lies in powering the fans. I am no electrical engineer and have only basic understanding of electrical components. Ultimately, I want to power the fans via USB. I would prefer to stay away from external power sources. If I am not mistaken, USB only provides 5V, is that correct? If so, that really limits my choice of fans, correct?

I would like to use either these 80mm fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999199
Or these 120mm fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103091

Am I correct in assuming that once I know how many fans USB will support it is simply a matter of splicing the wires together correctly and then plugging in the USB cable to my laptop?

If anyone can help me out and figure out how many and which fans power over USB will support, I will be very grateful.

 

Read through these threads, they'll help you figure out how to wire everything.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...ustom-builds/608477-custom-laptop-cooler.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/486526-custom-made-laptop-cooler-joebarchuck.html

 

Thanks for those links Ld. I'll have to look much closer tonight after work.

Here's a model of the unit. It's incredibly basic. This is going to be an initial prototype that I'll use for a month or so and then tweak to come up with something much nicer and complete.

The general design is similar to the Targus Chillmat which in my opinion is the best design for using a laptop on your lap. It provides a solid surface to place on your lap and only the sides are open which allows airflow out the sides, away from your body.



Going to use a LianLi PT-FN03 to control the fans.
I would like to go with 2 140mm Noiseblockers.

And an external 110AC to 12V DC to Molex power source.

 

Wish my shop had a laser cutter heh.

Take lots of pics when you're done!

I'm still waiting on my Lotus to come in and then I'll start..it's fan placement needs to be measured.

Have you come up with a way to reduce air turbulence that will create erroneous sound? That's where I am stuck at the moment.

Good luck!

 

I'm wrestling with power supply at the moment. I would love to go with USB power but I don't think it's sufficient to power 2 large fans (I've decided to go with 140mm fans).

I'm curious about the turbulence issue. I can only imagine that with fans with high CFM specs, the turbulence would be increased dramatically. I'm also deciding on fans right now but am leaning towards some Noisebreakers which are around 30cfm @ 700RPM, with a mere 9dba rating. Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PK-1 140mm x 25mm Ultra Quiet Fan - 700 RPM - 9 dBA - FrozenCPU.com

I would think with low RPM the turbulence wouldn't be as much of a problem.

Still, the whole thing is a work in progress and I'll be sure to keep this thread updated.

 

After messing with my Notepal U2, I wish I had option for external power OR USB power. I hooked up a 140mm fan which had > 90CFM @ 12V, but was dismal at 5V. Would rather run two 140mm fans at 12V, but would require a 12V power supply. I thought about hacking into my laptop, but I don't think I could do anything clean that I wouldn't want hanging out when it's NOT on the cooler.

I like the design, just make sure you make your holes big enough, and also consider locations of the holes so 80, 120, and 140mm fan holes line up (if possible) and large enough for fan screws or machine screws.

I actually own a BlackSilentPro similar that's linked by dabooosh, although much higher CFM and dB: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10215/fan-659. But this other fan, only 120mm, with USB adapter pushes a lot more air, runs my machine 5C cooler than the Noiseblocker fan at 5V.

 

I am strictly sold on my custom laptop cooler via USB, I don't want to around with another cord having to be plugged in.

I'm looking into two 5v fans, with a fan controller, and as I mentioned USB powered.

 

Also, watch out, each USB port officially only supports 2.5W (500mA @ 5V), so... though you can splice together identical voltages to increase the overall amperage (I dunno if USB supports that "as is" without any special handshake, however).

 

Fan speed is based on Voltage. You are best to use two USB ports for two fans, otherwise each fan will get half the voltage, greatly reducing the speed and cfm of course.

 

Does 3.0 not get more voltage?

I'm on a phone at the moment and surfing is a pain, so I'm lazy

 

It is also 5V, but with logic can draw more amps up to 900mA compared wtih 500mA of USB 2.0.

There is "powered USB" but those would be in desktop machines and have an additional four pins and can supply 12V.

 

So, is our only viable option of providing ample cooling for a 'gaming' laptop is to use an external PSu?

I am slow when it comes to electrical work, forgive me.

 

No, just need to find a good 5V fan. Unfortunately most of the larger fans are 12V. The Thermaltake fan I linked to earlier is 120mm and actually moves a lot of air: Amazon.com: Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 External USB Cooling Fan 12CM AF0007: Electronics

I'd prefer a 140mm since it covers the spots I want cooled better, but I tried it and the Thermaltake worked better, dropped temps an additional 5C. Actually I found the stock fans in the Notepal U2 worked rather well too, but only has two , and didn't cover the spots I needed (GPU, CPU, Air intake). I did a cooing mod, and if I push air into those three spots, temps are very good.

 

For the prototype, I used a venting pattern of .130 diameter holes with .250 spacing.


I have lots of other patterns but I want to see how this one works first. Alternatively I can cut a logo, words, or something fancy in the laser once I determine the best approach to venting for airflow while still mainting structural integrity. I don't want the whole unit to bow in the middle under weight of the laptop. There is also the option of bumping up to a thicker gauge aluminum although I'd like to keep it at 0.060 so the unit stays very light.

I did make holes for 140mm fans. In the next prototype, I will most likely provide various hole spacing for 140, 120, and 80mm fan configurations.

I ordered my parts and they should be here this week. I'm going to have the shop guys run the metal under the timesaver and then form the unit today.

For fans I went with two Noiseblocker PK1s. With a 9dBA rating, these things should be silent. I also like how they come with silicone gaskets, short and long cord extensions, and rubber fasteners.

The fans will be mounted and then connected to a LianLi PT-FN03 PCI fan controller. The fan controller will be mounted on two tabs on the right side of the unit which is not visibile in my picture above. This unit also gives me the option of going with 3 fans.

Lastly, the unit will be powered by an external 110v AC to DC 12V power adapter with molex connector. I wanted to avoid external power units but USB power just isn't a viable option for considerable cooling. I also didn't want to mess with drawing too much power or screwing with the electronics of things that are plugged into my brand new laptop. The good news is that with a 6 foot wall to brick extension, I can mount the brick inside the back of the laptop cooler so the only thing needed to plug in is the cord from the wall to the brick.

I'm interested to see how it all works and what types of temperatures result. I have no doubt a second or third interation will look much much different. My primary goal was to create a unit that would provide more cooling than anything else out there that is for true lap top (as in, on your lap...not a laptop computer) gaming. First I wanted to get the cooling system sorted out. On my next prototype I will focus on the ergonomics, non slip materials, perhaps a USB hub, and the aesthetics of the thing. I do know that I want to keep the general design the same, as I personally think the Targus Chillmat is the best design for lap top computing.

Hopefully I'll have everything assembled and can provide pictures by this weekend.

 

Nice config. Curious to see how it pans out. I might do something similar, except use my existing NotePal U2. There's this 2A 12V PSU too for $10 cheaper: CG 110v AC to 12v DC Power Supply with 4 Pin Molex (2000mA)

I was wondering if there was a way to pull a Y-cable off my laptop power brick and use it for my fans.

 

That would be a great solution. Let me know if you find a way to do it.

Heck, for my purposes, somehow splicing a molex connector off of the power cord near where it plugs into the laptop would be a perfect solution. Knowing next to nothing about electricity though I have no idea if it would work or cause issues with the laptop.

 

Too bad the end that connects to the laptop and PSU isn't a plug-in one, but hard connected. If it was just a plug-in the you could try it and replace the cord if needed. Unfortunately I haven't seen one where you plug in the cord end to the laptop.

 

Here's a 12V voltage regulator. If I am reading the Manufacturer's specs correctly this will take a 19v input and turn it into a 12v output.

Split the end of your laptop power supply cable into a Y and one of the ends could be connected to the male laptop connector and the other to a male connector for the cooler. Wire a female connector to the 12V regulator, the regulator to the fan control, and the fan control to the fans. I doubt a fan controller and two or 3 fans would put too much of a load on that 220w adapter that comes with the laptop.

 

I may buy a cheap knockoff PSU for my laptop and try just that. Hmm. In my case my PSU is 120W but more than sufficient for my AMD Llano config. I should do a kill-a-watt measurement and see what it maxes at. I'm assuming < 80W.

 

Well I did the prototype and immediately made some changes. Changed the venting entirely (holes were too boring) and increased the height of it by half an inch.

For the 140mm fan holes, I went with a design I have seen on laser cut fan grills.

Directly underneath the fan holes I used a custom font. It says FSEVEN which is the handle I use for all of my online gaming.

 

Very nice, what program are you using to model this in? And do you not plan on making a flat base for your cooler? I do, for when I want it on my lap.

Good Stuff!

 

Thanks! I used Solidworks to model this and a program called TruTops to program it on our laser/punch combo machine.

If you notice there are 4 holes in the bottom corners. This top part will be fastened to a bottom base plate. If you scroll up to my first prototype you will see the assembled unit. I just left the bottom plate off of this screenshot of the new top plate.

 

Ah I see

Well done

 

Nice job... You could find yourself a niche business on the side if your boss would let you use the equipment!