J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul
writes:
[]
Just a few days ago, I saw a *power supply* with liquid cooling.
And it was expensive too. Ya talk about dippy concepts. I want
one to go with my solid gold toilet in the bathroom :-)

Paul

I'd feel very uneasy about liquid in close proximity to the mains
voltage part of the computer (whether your 110 or our 220-240 volts)! Or
do these things use non-conductive liquids? (If so, what?)

You could easily use Fluorinert as the working fluid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert

However, knowing how cheap power supply companies are, you
know it's not filled with that. Fluorinert is $500 a gallon.

Our thermal people at work, did some experiments with it, and
decided it was more trouble than it was worth. I originally
learned of the existence of the stuff, at a trade show, where
a CRT TV set is "half immersed" in it. You can't allow the
"big red wire" on the TV set, to be covered with the fluid.
But it will take a good deal of high voltage without a problem.
(It has no problem with B++ voltages.) It's just not a good idea
to apply 15kV to it (might depend on how clean everything is,
whether the fluid is clean or dirty before being loaded into
the demo). You can completely immerse regular vacuum tubes in it.

*******

It could be that the liquid PSU has a "preferred orientation", in
which case if it leaks, the liquid runs away from the dangerous
bits. Or, you could always passivate the entire HV section.
In the same way that a microwave oven might receive a conformal
coating in the HV section to protect against moisture/cooking salt
effects. No matter how it's done, I cannot imagine a product
liability analyst giving that a pass.

Paul