[Beowulf] small cluster cooling / beer fridges

[Nifty niftyompi Mitch]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 03:19:09PM -0400, Mark Kosmowski wrote:
> >
> > Questions (same RGB asked):

> > What environmental conditions should such an office have?
> > 1.5ton A/C?
> > 4kW  capable wiring?
> > Beer keg refrigerator?
> > How many air vent and drip holes on the walls, ceiling and windows?
> >
> Assuming the physical dimensions work, would condensation (or anything
> else) be a problem if someone, say a crazy grad student in his non-AC
> basement, were to put a few desktop nodes in a used, cleaned
> refrigerator?  For power into the fridge, a hole could be drilled into
> the hull and then filled in with closed cell foam once the cords are
> poked through.
> 
> Perhaps even two nodes in one of those small college student beer
> cooler fridges - a 12 pack is roughly the size of a mini-tower...
> 

Crazy.... to say the least.

The heat generated by the computers has to be moved by the 
refrigerator to the outside of the refrigerator.   The room
now must manage both the heat of the computers and the heat
generated by the refrigerator.

What is necessary is a plan that pumps the excess heat outside as needed.

A basement may have enough mass at a low enough temp to not
need anything special.   

The grad student should look at and understand the workings of radon
air pumps that have a heat exchanger.   They try to make the cold air
warm and the warm air cold for a near sum zero thermal exchange for fresh
air.... In he case of a computer an air valve to
dump warm air into a cold basement and hot air out of a warm basement
seems to make sense.  Since most desk side boxes have warm exhaust air
exiting from a single place it makes sense up to a point to duct the
heated air to an exhaust valve and duct the air inside or out as needed...
Inside in the winter and out in the summer.

Anyhow a refrigerator in a room with computers in it has a heat budget
that is computers_plus_refrigerator so it and may not help at all.
Better to cool some beer in it.



-- 
	T o m  M i t c h e l l 
	Found me a new hat, now what?