How do I know which heatsink will fit?

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Tickles14

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Feb 13, 2014
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Hi,

I'm looking to make my micro fridge silent. I've only just recently discovered that the silver metal thing is a heatsink or at least I think it is. A couple of pics are below, please can you tell me if the silver metal thing below the fan is a heatsink? If it is how do I know what I can replace it with? I want to replace it with a fanless heatsink to make it silent, but how will I know if it fits or not?

DSC_0053.jpg


Sorry for the bad pic, thanks :)
 
Solution
Ubrales
The silver finned aluminum part under the fan is the heatsink. This along with the fan are integral parts of the sub-assembly that dissipates heat from the circuit board of the fridge.

A fan-less heatsink will be too large to be practical.

To reduce the fan noise you can look into replacing the fan with a different fan that has the same or better air flow and lower noise. Fan sizes are standardized. Computer case fans will work as long as the voltage and power requirements are the same. This will give you an idea as to what is available: http://www.newegg.com/Case-Fans/SubCategory/ID-573

Is this a 'Peltier' mini fridge?
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Ubrales

Ubrales

Polypheme
Dec 3, 2009
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The silver finned aluminum part under the fan is the heatsink. This along with the fan are integral parts of the sub-assembly that dissipates heat from the circuit board of the fridge.

A fan-less heatsink will be too large to be practical.

To reduce the fan noise you can look into replacing the fan with a different fan that has the same or better air flow and lower noise. Fan sizes are standardized. Computer case fans will work as long as the voltage and power requirements are the same. This will give you an idea as to what is available: http://www.newegg.com/Case-Fans/SubCategory/ID-573

Is this a 'Peltier' mini fridge?
 
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Tickles14

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Feb 13, 2014
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Solid answer, thanks. I thought to myself a new heatsink may be too big and knock the motherboard out of place.

It's a 50mm x 50mm x 10mm fan. I think I've found a decent replacement fan but it's out of stock.

I'm fairly certain it's a Peltier fridge, but I'm not 100% sure. But it would be weird for it to have a heatsink and a fan and not be a Peliter fridge. It's also Chinese made and the Chinese seem to be obsessed with the Peltier effect. I have to admit it's pretty cool how the Peltier effect works and I didn't think it would be efficient enough to keep the temperature at 2-8 degrees celsius.

The current fan is a DC brushless 5v 0.18A fan, I'm not sure about the RPM and airflow but I want to replace it with a 12v fan. If I get a 12v fan of the same dimensions and connect it to my computers PSU, will it be ok? Or do you reckon it will not keep up with the old fan? Are DC brushless 5v fans anything special?

 
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Tickles14

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Feb 13, 2014
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Thanks for the links and reply. I meant that I would power the 12v fan off my PSU externally, the PSU is 600w. So the fan should run at full speed, but I don't know if the RPM and airflow will match the original fan though, are 5v 0.18A fans anything special, I mean will they be a lot better than a 3000rpm 12v fan. The fan that I have found is 16 dBa, will that be silent from 3 feet away?

BTW I'm from the UK and here's the fan I found:

http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Noiseblocker-BlackSilent-XS1-50mm-Case-Fan---ITR-XS-1-pid-23743.html

What do you think? Is it worth a try?
 
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Ubrales

Ubrales

Polypheme
Dec 3, 2009
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Yes the fan you selected will work as long as it is connected to a 12V supply. Will the PSU that you plan on connecting this fan be always ON?

Connecting this fan to an external power source will by-pass the automatic ON/OFF control that the fridge circuitry provides. However, running the fan ON all the time will not present any problems.

The noise level is very low; thanks to the sleeve bearing.

This fan will work to cool down the heatsink.
 
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Tickles14

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Feb 13, 2014
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Thanks again for the reply. Yes I plan to leave the PSU permanently on, also I never want to the fridge to turn off :)

I have no idea of decibels in contrast to real life, so I don't know what they equate to, I've looked at many charts online but non help as they describe it has a whisper but a whisper can be loud or quiet, so realistically do you think I'll hear the fan at 3 feet away? Without the fan it's completely silent, there's no other moving parts.

 
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Ubrales

Ubrales

Polypheme
Dec 3, 2009
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One other option to explore would be a larger sized fan if you can fit it in. By larger I mean an 80x80x15 (or12) and then run it at a low RPM using a simple variable speed control.

The dBA scale is logarithmic and that is why it is hard to make direct comparisons. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist2/projects/sixer/loud.pdf
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

This will provide some idea of comparison. (My wife screaming at me would be too loud to measure on any dB scale!).
 
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