Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Cooling Processors quietly

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:23 am

Does anyone have experience with these flexible heat pipes?
They look to be ideal for low profile cases or other custom and hard to fit cooling situations.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:47 am

So I guess I can answer my own question now. I was able to get a couple sample pieces of the Flat Cool Pipes and built a fanless mini-itx system. These cool pipes are very nice - flat, flexible and able to keep an Intel i3-2100T cool without fans in a small case.

Here are the system specs:
Intel i3-2100T
Asrock H67 mini-itx board
Crucial 64 Gb SSD
Kingston HyperionX 2x2 Gb
picoPSU-160
Habey EMC-800S case
Heatsinks from HeatSinksUSA - $14
Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

I modifed the case by cutting openings in each side. The Cool Pipes attach to the heatsinks with some Arctic Silver and copper foil tape. The heatsinks are bolted to the case. I secure the Cool Pipes to the CPU and SB with AS again and clamp them down with the original heatsink brackets.

Image

Image

CPU temps are 34C at idle, 42C after playing 1080p bluray rip for one hour, 68C after 30 minutes of Prime95.

Image

leem
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 11:59 pm
Location: Melbourne, Oz

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by leem » Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:50 pm

Always wanted to try this, and interesting that such a thin strip of material is so effective at transferring heat.

Is the material easy to bend? or break?

And do you know of a similar source for heatsinks in the UK/Europe?

cheers :)

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:58 am

leem wrote:Always wanted to try this, and interesting that such a thin strip of material is so effective at transferring heat.

Is the material easy to bend? or break?

And do you know of a similar source for heatsinks in the UK/Europe?

cheers :)
The coolpipe is easy to bend. I've bent it back and forth several times without problem. It is also harder to kink than a regular heatpipe when bending because the individual channels in it are so small.

Sorry, don't know of any other sources for heatsinks like this, and I've looked for them a lot. You can try places that sell surplus electronics. Sometimes they have heatsinks that will work.

redsun
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:56 am
Location: Canada

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by redsun » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:33 pm

how much do they cost and can you specify the model you got?

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:01 am

redsun wrote:how much do they cost and can you specify the model you got?
The Thermasol part number for the coolpipe is MHP-2040A150A. Unfortunately, they will not sell single pieces to the public, only OEMs. However, I am talking to their sales department about buying a quantity of them to resell, if there is enough interest.

So far, it doesn't look like it. :? I'm surprised, as these coolpipes offer a unique, simple, cheap and effective way to create a fanless and truly silent PC.

leem
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 11:59 pm
Location: Melbourne, Oz

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by leem » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:30 am

I'm interested :) ...although I am in UK so may be easier to go direct, I've dealt with them before as they also do rubber vibration mounts

as you say, heatsinks are easy to pick up on eBay etc., I think it's the fixings that may present more of a challenge

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Mike Chin - Group Purchase

Post by ces » Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:20 am

coppertubing wrote:The Thermasol part number for the coolpipe is MHP-2040A150A. Unfortunately, they will not sell single pieces to the public, only OEMs. However, I am talking to their sales department about buying a quantity of them to resell, if there is enough interest. So far, it doesn't look like it. :? I'm surprised, as these coolpipes offer a unique, simple, cheap and effective way to create a fanless and truly silent PC.
Mike, why don't you see if you can organize a group purchase?

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Mike Chin - Group Purchase

Post by MikeC » Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:15 am

ces wrote:
coppertubing wrote:The Thermasol part number for the coolpipe is MHP-2040A150A. Unfortunately, they will not sell single pieces to the public, only OEMs. However, I am talking to their sales department about buying a quantity of them to resell, if there is enough interest. So far, it doesn't look like it. :? I'm surprised, as these coolpipes offer a unique, simple, cheap and effective way to create a fanless and truly silent PC.
Mike, why don't you see if you can organize a group purchase?
Better for someone who is really interested to start up a poll thread to draw & sign up other interested parties. Doing this from Canada (whose population is a tiny fraction of either EC or US where the main SPCR audiences are) is not ideal.

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Mike Chin - Group Purchase

Post by ces » Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:20 am

MikeC wrote:Better for someone who is really interested to start up a poll thread to draw & sign up other interested parties. Doing this from Canada (whose population is a tiny fraction of either EC or US where the main SPCR audiences are) is not ideal.
You don't have to do it yourself. You just need to put your support behind someone who wants to do it. This might not be the right product to do it on... but there are others. You can serve as a catalyst to enable such collaborative buying efforts. Perhaps some modest portion of the revenues could be allocated to support the SPCR website.

For instance, someone like you could approach Scythe and ask if they would do a special run of the Mini-Ninja. I suspect there might be a fairly high interest in something like that by a number of people within your sphere of influence. Let someone else manage the project you enable it to happen.
Last edited by ces on Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Mike Chin - Group Purchase

Post by MikeC » Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:37 am

ces wrote:
MikeC wrote:Better for someone who is really interested to start up a poll thread to draw & sign up other interested parties. Doing this from Canada (whose population is a tiny fraction of either EC or US where the main SPCR audiences are) is not ideal.
You don't have to do it yourself. You just need to put your support behind someone who wants to do it. This might not be the right product to do it on... but there are others. You can serve as a catalyst to enable such collaborative buying efforts. Perhaps some modest portion of the revenues could be allocated to support the SPCR website.

For instance, someone like you could approach Scythe and ask if they would do a special run of the Mini-Ninja. I suspect there might be a fiarly high interest in something like that by a number of people within your sphere of influence.
Yes, you're right, good suggestions. To those interested in a group purchase of the Amec products, I'll be happy to lend my support.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:35 am

I've been waiting to see if there was any more interest in these flat coolpipes before updating this thread, so now I will. I was able to purchase a small quantity of them, mainly because I wanted to build more of these silent systems for myself, since from what I've learned so far, they work quite well for small HTPCs with low power (35 or 65 w TDP) cpus. I have more than enough to satisfy my needs, so I would be willing to sell some to anyone that is interested.

Some things to keep in mind: these would only be suitable for small or thin cases if the intent is to pipe the heat outside, because the length is only 150 mm (at least for the non-custom sizes). So for a case that fits snuggly around a mini-itx board with cpu roughly in the middle, that leaves about 50 mm for the condensor portion of the pipe if the heatsinks are on the sides. For a top-mounted heatsink, case height is the limiting factor. The Habey cases work well with these but I'm sure there are others. I am working now on a case mod for a Habey EMC-600 with heatsinks on the top, to cool a 65w Intel i5.

I think a group purchase would work as well, but since I've already done the upfront work with Amec and have enough of these to provide a few other people, just let me know and we can decide on a price, if that's OK with Mike.

-William

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by MikeC » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:55 pm

coppertubing -- you go!

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:25 am

MikeC wrote:coppertubing -- you go!
OK, then. If anyone wants to purchase one of these Amec Thermasol Flat Coolpipes, send me a PM. They are as described on the Amec website and the part number is MHP-2040A150A. The price is US$10 apiece plus shipping. I can accept Paypal.

I have about 40 pieces available but I can get more if needed.

Jay_S
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 715
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:50 pm
Location: Milwaukee, WI

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by Jay_S » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:23 am

@ coppertubing

Can you explain in more detail how you mounted the flat heat pipes to the CPU? Perhaps with close up photos?

I have an old stereo amplifier case with massive heat sinks on each side, and I've been interested in hacking it into a fanless HTPC for a while. And these flat heat pipes look convenient.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:53 am

Jay_S wrote:@ coppertubing

Can you explain in more detail how you mounted the flat heat pipes to the CPU? Perhaps with close up photos?

I have an old stereo amplifier case with massive heat sinks on each side, and I've been interested in hacking it into a fanless HTPC for a while. And these flat heat pipes look convenient.
The heatpipe sits flat against the cpu with some Arctic Silver to ensure good contact. I use a short piece of 6mm copper bar on top of the heatpipe as a spacer and a heatsink fan mounting bracket to clamp it all down. Here are some pictures from my latest build, which is for a 65 watt Intel i5-2405S on a Foxconn H67 mobo, in a Habey EMC-600 case.

One flat coolpipe, one with the desired angle, and the copper bar spacer:
Image

Closeup of XIGMATEK mounting bracket:
Image

Sideview:
Image

Dual extruded aluminum heatsinks. The condensor end of the coolpipe will be clamped between them:
Image

Finally the semi-finished product:
Image

These coolpipes are very easy to work with and perform quite well. I will have temp data for this passively cooled 65 watt Intel i5 build shortly.

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by ces » Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:22 am

coppertubing wrote: Dual extruded aluminum heatsinks. The condensor end of the coolpipe will be clamped between them:
Image

Finally the semi-finished product:
Image


I don't understand what these fins are. Please explain.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:43 am

[quote="ces
I don't understand what these fins are. Please explain.[/quote]

Those are heatsinks. I bought them from HeatSinksUSA. They are on the condensor end of the heatpipe to dissipate the heat from the CPU.

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by ces » Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:44 am

coppertubing wrote:[quote="ces]I don't understand what these fins are. Please explain.
Those are heatsinks. I bought them from HeatSinksUSA. They are on the condensor end of the heatpipe to dissipate the heat from the CPU.[/quote][/quote]

Do you mean that they hover over the top of the case?

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:59 am

ces wrote:Do you mean that they hover over the top of the case?
No, not quite. It's hard to see in the picture but I have a couple small plastic spacers between the heatsink and the case lid, so that the heatsinks "hover" to increase air flow around them.

Jay_S
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 715
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:50 pm
Location: Milwaukee, WI

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by Jay_S » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:54 am

coppertubing wrote:
Jay_S wrote:@ coppertubing

Can you explain in more detail how you mounted the flat heat pipes...
The heatpipe sits flat against the cpu ...
Thanks! Are the ones you have for sale the standard 150mm length?

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:50 pm

Jay_S wrote:
coppertubing wrote:
Jay_S wrote:@ coppertubing

Can you explain in more detail how you mounted the flat heat pipes...
The heatpipe sits flat against the cpu ...
Thanks! Are the ones you have for sale the standard 150mm length?
Yes. They are 150 mm long, 40 mm wide and 2 mm thick.

WhiteFireDragon
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:55 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by WhiteFireDragon » Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:20 am

I'm interested in one of these. I'll shoot you PM once I finalize my configuration. I also have the same case btw.

AntoineHTPC
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 10:51 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by AntoineHTPC » Thu May 31, 2012 11:26 am

Hello

I'm new to this forum and very interested by fanless cooling solutions.

I'm building my own case with aluminium, and I'm was thinking to use heatpipes but I had'nt find until now.
I've some questions :

Do you how many watt this pipes could manages ? You said 300w but does it really do the job for a processor i7 with a big comsuption of power ? (Mine is I3 530 with a low tdp, so I'm not worrying, just asking)
Did you calculate dimensions for the heatsink ? How ?
How did you fix the coolpipe to the heatsink ? (just artic silver ?)
Do you think a fan would be usefull, in extraction maybe ?
Did you have troubles of temp with this solution ?

To conclude, i post a link where guys made a full aluminium case, it' in french, but the picture talk for itself:
http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/view ... &start=180

Hope you could help! Thanks

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by MikeC » Thu May 31, 2012 11:58 am

AntoineHTPC wrote:Do you how many watt this pipes could manages ? You said 300w but does it really do the job for a processor i7 with a big comsuption of power ? (Mine is I3 530 with a low tdp, so I'm not worrying, just asking)
Did you calculate dimensions for the heatsink ? How ?
How did you fix the coolpipe to the heatsink ? (just artic silver ?)
Do you think a fan would be usefull, in extraction maybe ?
Did you have troubles of temp with this solution ?
As DIYers, it is simply not possible to answer your first half dozen questions with any precision. First, the answers are highly dependent on other factors. A heatpipe is only a part of a cooling system, so to speak of its thermal capacity in watts doesn't really make sense. You have to take into account both the heatsink and the evaporator, at the very least.

Hands-on experimentation is really the only way to answer your questions. You can do it scientifically, though, as the article I link below shows.

For a better understanding of what heatpipes do, and how to think more usefully about them, read Measuring Heatpipe Efficiency. It's not about the Amec pipes, but it is highly relevant to the questions you ask. Carefully read my notes at the end of the article.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:52 am

Hi Antoine,

I can try to answer some of your questions based on my experience. According to Amec Thermasol, the max thermal transfer rate depends on the flatpipe thickness and orientation, and for their thickest pipe, it can be up to 300 watts. But like MikeC says, it also depends on some other things like the evaporator contact area and condensor heatsink. The size of flatpipe that I used has been able to sufficiently cool both a 35w tdp i3 and a 65w i5. Unless you use some really big heatsinks and maybe some supplemental cooling fans, I don't think it would handle an i7.

I did not do any calculations for the heatsink size. I chose it rather to fit with the case dimensions. The flatpipes are fixed to the cpu with ArcticSilver, and I used 1 mm thermal conductive silicon pads (search on ebay) to connect to the heatsinks.

I have considered adding a large and slow fan blowing on the heatsinks to help with the cooling, but haven't added it yet. The complete silence is too enjoyable. The temps stay within reason for both the i3 and the i5, normally less than 45C for most operations.

AntoineHTPC
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 10:51 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by AntoineHTPC » Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:31 am

I read with a lot of attention your link Mike, and it's very useful, thanks.

@coppertubing : I'm a little bit surprised by the choice of "thermal silicon compound".
Why did you use this ? Why don't you use artic silver too ?

Did you do a hole in the heatsink (or in the heatpipe??) to put them together ?

Thanks
Last edited by AntoineHTPC on Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by MikeC » Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:51 pm

AntoineHTPC wrote:I read with a lot of attention your link Mike, and it's very useful, thanks.

I'm a little bit surprised by the choice of "thermal silicon compound".
Why did you use this ? Why don't you use artic silver too ?

Did you do a hole in the heatsink (or in the heatpipe??) to put them together ?

Thanks
Looks like you did not notice that it's an article by a volunteer contributor in NZ, not by SPCR staff.

coppertubing
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:57 am

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by coppertubing » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:19 am

Here is my latest build using the flatpipes, this time with two of them connecting to the heatsinks attached to the case sides. CPU is an Intel i3-2100T on a Foxconn H67 board. CPU temps stayed about the same, maybe a little better - 38C at idle, < 45C under normal load, about 65C under heavy load. The case gets a little warmer since it is now acting as part of the heatsink. The thermal silicon pads provide better contact between the heatsink/case and the condensor end of the flatpipe.

Image

Image

Image

onlinespending
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:48 pm

Re: Amec Thermasol Flat Cool Pipes

Post by onlinespending » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:37 pm

I was interested in purchasing some of these flexible cool pipes, but looks like PMing is offline at the moment. coppertubing, do you still have some available?

Post Reply