Additional projects / Fluids & cooling
Thermoelectric phone cooler
Phone-cooling prototypes exploring direct thermal contact and temporary heat storage in melting wax.
Open the numbered review →Cooler and phone mount
Photos 256–257
A prototype phone cooler using a thermoelectric module, which moves heat when powered by electricity. On the right is the cooler with a 12-volt car-power adapter. On the left, a cutout in the phone case holds a silicone thermal pad to help transfer heat from the phone to the cooler.
The phone case positioned over the thermoelectric cooler. The silicone thermal pad was intended to create a heat-transfer path between the back of the phone and the cooling surface.
Wax heat-storage experiment
Photos 487–488
A phone-cooling experiment with a thermoelectric element, copper plates, and a block of paraffin wax. The wax was intended to absorb heat temporarily as it melted, giving the cooler a limited store of heat-absorbing capacity. Fans were added to help cool the assembly. The prototype did not provide as much cooling as I wanted.
Another view of the thermoelectric phone-cooler experiment, showing the fans. Melting paraffin was intended to store heat during use, while the cooling hardware helped release that heat from the assembly. The overall cooling performance fell short of my expectations.