"Water cooling" has come a LONG way from the days back in the 90s when
we were machining out own water blocks from aluminum and copper, and
trying to construct flow loops that didn't leak, find suitable
radiators, etc.
But I don't think there are any current CPU/GPU coolers on the market
that would touch the heat rejection requirements of the combined LDMOS
modules, assuming you could find a model that could be adapted, and
somehow managed to find a way to get it attached.... You'd ALMOST HAVE
to cool the copper heat spreader, since the LDMOS are I suspect soldered
to it. Don't know if the heat spreader is soldered or mechanically
attached to the heat sink.. It is possible that you could gang multiple
large OTS CPU coolers onto the heat spreader in place of the massive
heatsink.
Then you'd need to figure out what you were going to do with the 1- "n"
number of sets of hoses and radiators.... and 1-3 times n number of
radiators in very large fans.
And THEN, remember that there are other thermal loads inside the
chassis... You'll still need to provided some airflow to those loads,
so you'll still need case fans.
Certainly and interesting and intriguing project for someone deep of
pockets and most grande of huevos.... but not a trivial task certainly.
I personally would not risk my $6k amp to do it... If I had one. :(
73,
______________________
Clay Autery, KY5G
(318) 518-1389
On 06/03/18 08:11, Drew AF2Z wrote:
There are liquid cooling systems available for CPUs and graphics
cards, used by gamers and overclockers. Have no idea how this would
compare to cooling a 1500 watt RF power amplifier but probably more
analogous than an airplane engine.
73,
Drew
AF2Z
On 06/02/18 17:09, Dauer, Edward wrote:
I have been following this thread with interest because I have a
KPA1500 on order, and I have very limited flexibility as to where the
RF deck can go compared to where I will have to sit.
Don's video was very well done and a great help in understanding the
realities.
I know zero about thermodynamics, and so wanted only to say thanks to
everyone who is contributing ideas, and to make but two comments.
First, as to water cooling, I suspect it would be a huge weight
penalty to get the cooling fluid everywhere it needs to be. So far
as I know there is only one reciprocating engine made for aircraft
that has a water jacket. (There might be others nowadays - I haven't
owned an airplane for some years.) The reasons others don't are
reliability, safety, complexity, and - mostly - weight. Second,
isn't this largely a contest-operating issue? I believe we are
still governed by the rule that we may use only that amount of power
necessary for the communication. I contest too, so I'll face the
problem on those occasions, but not for casual ragchews. I plan to
make some graphs of when in terms of time, power, mode and band the
fans on mine kick up a notch, and use it as a general operating
guideline if I need to.
Ted, KN1CBR
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