[Beowulf] Re: Ahoy shipmates

[Robert G. Brown]

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009, Hearns, John wrote:

> To use seawater to cool a room safely it would have to be well isolated,
> exchanging heat with a loop of much more innocuous fluid that actually
> enters the room.

Check out the Duke Marine Lab website.  They basically do this, via
geothermal exchange units (but they're on an island -- the ocean is
basically the ultimate heat sink).

I think that the technology is straightforward and readily available
these days.  The only real hassle is that ocean water is corrosive as
hell, so the heat exchangers have to be stainless steel and/or barnacle
proof unless you bury the exchangers and rely on slow diffusive
convection back to the ocean.

     rgb

>
> Dave, I really think that is how you would do it. I was a bit loose in
> terminology.
> You don't pump the raw cooling water from your private bit of sea (or,
> ahem, lake) round
> your computer room.
>
>
> The contents of this email are confidential and for the exclusive use of the intended recipient.  If you receive this email in error you should not copy it, retransmit it, use it or disclose its contents but should return it to the sender immediately and delete your copy.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org sponsored by Penguin Computing
> To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
>

Robert G. Brown	                       http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Phone: 1-919-660-2567  Fax: 919-660-2525     email:rgb at phy.duke.edu