Trick to keep your receiver cool...

[vinayaga]

I had purchased a Pioneer VSX-920 (110v) receiver from the US, but it was heating up a little more than normal, possibly because of the frequency change in spite of the voltage convertor. I also believe that Onkyo's have a tendency to heat up over hours of use.

I then found a neat way to keep the receiver cool. Get a Cooler master Laptop USB cooler with a 120mm fan for Rs 800 and just place it on top of the receiver (inverted so that the fan blows into the receiver). Plug the USB socket to a cheapo 240v to USB plug (the ones sold to charge mobile phones via usb cable) and find that the receiver works really cool.

The 120mm fan is really quiet and the receiver never heats up anymore. Just thought I would share the same with all of you folks. Here is the picture.

 

[pupupuchi28]

See as I say, work with desi solutions and save India from 'loosing gold reserve'. Very good buddy.
However how would the cooler act on the principles of exhaust fan. Put it on top end of closed rack and make small holes on left/right end of a closed rack. Heated warm air would move to the 'roof', exhaust will will blow it out creating space below, small holes on the side panels will input cool heavy air.

 

[baijuxavior]

Instead of blowing into the AVR, shouldn't the fan be placed to suck the hot air to outside?

 

[vinayaga]

Its the same principle as a CPU cooler, it is still being debated whether a cooler that blows into the heatsink or suck out air is better. As you can see in the picture, it looks a lot neater placed down :lol:

The way I see it, any air circulation makes it better rather than have the transformer sit there and heat up.

Instead of blowing into the AVR, shouldn't the fan be placed to suck the hot air to outside?

 

[manoj.p]

I had used the same with my Onkyo 605. Only that the cooler was sucking the hot air coming out of receiver instead of blowing into it. Blowing air into receiver is not good. Receivers are designed to take the air in from side vents, cool the parts and hot air comes out from top.

Its a very simple solution to use with HT equipment in hot condition. Very good.

 

[venkatcr]

http://www.hifivision.com/audio-video-accessories/4372-antec-veris-av-cooler.html

Cheers

 

[TheSeeker]

i think i have a spare cooler, which now can be used in the exact same way ! :clapping:

 

[madhu_7]

BEing a Mechanical engineer i am designing a AV rack with fans to suck out Air from the Cabinet and Calculating heat dissipation, Air exhaust based on Heat and Mass transfer.....

 

[baijuxavior]

^^. Great. Share the design after you finish it.

 

[avidyarthy]

BEing a Mechanical engineer i am designing a AV rack with fans to suck out Air from the Cabinet and Calculating heat dissipation, Air exhaust based on Heat and Mass transfer.....

Thats the absolute correct way!
Why work against nature? Hot air rises up, so it is imperative that one assist in the upward flow by creating negative draft, ie. suck out. Thats the least resistance route. Else, if done the opposite way of blow in, the rising hot air would encounter the higher pressure of the blow-in cool air and unnecessarily permeate to every nook and corner of the device for no reason, and also contibute to higher than usual accumulation of dust inside, in addition to warming up areas inside the unit which are never meant to ever get warm!

 

[deba]

I keep a small AC Instrument Fan over my Amplifier to keep it cool...........)

 

[madhu_7]

^^. Great. Share the design after you finish it.

sure i would be glad to share it....
Just referring all my Engi books and working on it....

@avidyarthy
Blowing air in can mess up with the physics of nature...
For Eg in a humid region over a period of time the Air with vapour particles might cause damage (Minor Short s ) to the receiver components and touchwood if the receiver heats up extensively....The very thought scares me

 

[spirovious]

I had used a small exhaust AC fan with onkyo AVR.Once kept on open shelf,there was not much of the heat.Now Yamaha is a cool AVR compared to Onkyo.

 

[avidyarthy]

sure i would be glad to share it....
Just referring all my Engi books and working on it....

@avidyarthy
Blowing air in can mess up with the physics of nature...
For Eg in a humid region over a period of time the Air with vapour particles might cause damage (Minor Short s ) to the receiver components and touchwood if the receiver heats up extensively....The very thought scares me

err ... did I say any different?
BTW, humidity is of no concern, and CANNOT be addressed at all. Whether it is a blow-thru system or draw-thru, humidity has to go in ... either ways. It is pure heat .... how to dissipate it more effectively ...

 

[amol12]

An ideal solution would be to blow air from the sides/below and suck air from the top.
Blowing air blows away any dust due to positive pressure. Fans which suck air are not capable of doing so with same effectiveness.

 

[doors666]

hmm, i wonder how well this will work with something like pass f5

 

[Kannan]

Never thought of this. Great idea. I was using a small fan fixed within the rack and above the amp.

Also why not just plug the cooler to the USB port of the amp if it has one.

 

[zervinb]

Also why not just plug the cooler to the USB port of the amp if it has one.

I'm not sure the receiver supplies enough power via it's own USB port.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Thats the absolute correct way!
Why work against nature? Hot air rises up, so it is imperative that one assist in the upward flow by creating negative draft, ie. suck out. Thats the least resistance route. Else, if done the opposite way of blow in, the rising hot air would encounter the higher pressure of the blow-in cool air and unnecessarily permeate to every nook and corner of the device for no reason, and also contibute to higher than usual accumulation of dust inside, in addition to warming up areas inside the unit which are never meant to ever get warm!

The heat generated during the warm up in the heat sink is a calculated value and the heat sink thickness and area is calculated to dissapated the heat into the atmosphere naturally via heat transfer. Only the top, bottom, back and side ventilation holes should not be blocked by any means (cloth, rack, dust ect) and a free flow of natural air should be allowed to flow around the amplifier. If this is done no external cooling is required. If it would have required, the amp would have provided it internally. In any case if the amplifer is driven at non-linear levels the protection circuits will anyway activate due to the high current flow in the output stage. Hence i personally feel that the cooling is not required. Its more of anxeity than any practicallity.

I feel the rating of the step-down transformer 220 to 110 volt could be culprit here in causing the amplifier to overheat and nothing to do with heat transfer principles.
Another culpruit could be the speakers connected. If the power transfer between the amplifier and the speaker is not proper due to the speaker impedance curve the minimum impedance of the speaker could reach dangerous low levels causing huge current to flow through the output stage causing the aimplifer to over heat. I would recomment to play the amplifier with some other speakers temporiarily and check if the amplifier overheats. If this is the case then consider replacing the speakers rather than spending money on the cooling device.

Cheers,

 

[avidyarthy]

Possibly so .....

But, there is something known as 'location' that comes into play. Seldom is one amp designed to cater to climate extremes ... most look at moderate areas, in fact, most come from moderate zones. By just adding a factor of safety, cannot cater to the actual state.

There is yet another factor that most manufacturers tend to overlook ... lets call it ... shifting to the next gear level ..... change due to latent and sensible heat loads ... brought in by the water loading in air. Higher the water load (ok, water vapour) in air at a particular temperature, lesser would be the heat transfer due to lower HTC (heat transfer coefficient). Thats why you feel hotter in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata environs as compared to Delhi ... which on thermometer has a higher temperature. The machine feels the same too as humans!

It is for this only reason, forced cooling is resorted to ....and becomes effective .... to somehow increase the heat transfer rate to allow for effective cooling.