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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
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Page 2 of 3
And more exhaust vents in the back.
And an intake vent at the bottom with raised feet to allow for proper clearance.
My curiosity aroused, I couldn't help but unscrew the front and remove the cooling unit to see what it was all about. At first it appears to be nothing more than a large heatsink and fan. That, of course, would be a complete fraud as it would be impossible to cool a beverage below room temperature with just a fan.
Which leaves one other option: TEC (Thermo-Electric Cooler). The way a TEC works is simple. An electrical current is passed through a special interface material, commonly known as a "hot plate" and one side gets hot while the other becomes cold. In the case of the mini fridge, the plate coming into contact with the beverage is the cold side while the heatsink and fan cool the hot side. This allows for rapid temperature drops within seconds and is the basis of a lot of hardcore CPU overclocking projects.
Here's a better look at some of the wiring. The amazing thing about this isn't the use of a TEC, but rather the ability to power a fan, a TEC, and an LED (which we'll see shortly) all from a single USB port, without surging other components in the process.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 August 2007 )
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