Freon cooled Raspberry Pi 3

[NiHaoMike]

OK, to be pedantic, R134a isn't really "Freon".

Many years ago, a friend of mine gave me a roughly 3 inch piece of 1/8" copper tubing filled with a little R134a and sealed at both ends. It was intended to demonstrate how refrigerants carry heat. After lying around for so many years, I decided to try to find a use for it. It so turns out that the cheap (and not so cheap) plastic cases for the Raspberry Pi are terrible thermal wise. I carefully bent that piece of tubing into a loop and epoxied it to an old NB heatsink on one end and a filed down penny (heatspreader) on the other end. I cut a hole in the case for the heatsink so it can mount on top.

It's way overkill, but it sure looks cool. And it does indeed keep the CPU very cool.

[1design]

You just rediscovered heat pipes They sure work, if you put a wick type structure in there it is also going to work upside down with only a slight reduction in efficiency!

[AntiProtonBoy]

What's that crest of? Do you have more info about the tube itself?

[AntiProtonBoy]

The "crest" part is just a piece of copper that transfers heat from chip to heat pipe.

I realise that, but if you look closely, the button is filed/sanded down. The silver region looks like shield with a scroll going across it.

[metrologist]

The "crest" part is just a piece of copper that transfers heat from chip to heat pipe.

I realise that, but if you look closely, the button is filed/sanded down. The silver region looks like shield with a scroll going across it.

Just google penny images

[Rick Law]

Go all the way - circulate mercury as liquid coolant instead.

I am having some fun picture in my mind the whole set up: brief-case sized coolant mechanism, powered by shopping-cart sized battery packs, powering and supporting a cigarette-pack sized Rasp PI.