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CoolIT USB Chiller


Date
: 01/25/08 – 04:59:13 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
CoolIT Systems

CoolIT Systems, a new face on Overclockers Online, is a company dedicated to computer cooling products such as CPU and VGA coolers. What distinguishes CoolIT from the rest of the competition is the technology used in their coolers. Instead of the conventional water-cooled system where water absorbs heat from the CPU, which is then blown off in a radiator, CoolIT uses peltiers to chill water in order to enhance cooling.

CoolIT now presents us with the USB Beverage Chiller. In today's market, there are many funky and interesting USB accessories such as cooling fans, light sources, as well as various toys made for amusement. By using the same peltier technology found in portable air conditioning units, the Beverage Chiller is designed to keep your drink cool over long periods of time instead of having to resort to ice cubes which can dilute drinks.

Page 2 : Package and Contents

The Chiller arrived in a nicely styled clamshell package.

The packaging gives details of the Chiller as well as instructions for its use and maintenence.

The clamshell package is very sturdy, which can become problematic upon opening. However, having a sharp blade will solve the problem.

The Chiller itself is styled very simplistically, with a glossy plastic casing and a blue metal surface.

So how exactly does the Beverage Chiller cool drinks you say?

By revealing the insides, we can see that there are only a few components.

The Chiller utilizes what is called a peltier. The peltier effect is the thermoelectric conversion of electricity to a temperature difference. In the simplest terms, the chiller takes electricity, makes one side of a ceramic plate hot while making the other cold simultaneously. The peltier is in direct contact with a heatsink on the hot side, and the metal plate on the cold side.

A small fan is used to cool the heatsink to prevent overheating. Now that the Chiller has been inspected, let's take a look at the specifications.

Page 3 : Specifications

As on the CoolIT website, the product overview is as follows:

The Chiller is able to cool its metal surface down to a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit (or 7.2 degrees Celsius), approximately the temperatures of the inside of a refrigerator. Also, the website states that the Chiller only uses 1.2 Amps/6 Watts, with one Watt being allocated to the fan. This means that the peltier runs on 5 Watts of power, an amount sufficient enough to power a PCI network card.

Now that we have covered specifications, let's move on to testing.

Page 4 : Testing

Installation is a one-step process: plug it into a USB port. The USB port is only used as the Chiller's power source, so there is no software. After plugging in the Chiller, the metal plate gets cold within 5-10 seconds. Although the Chiller is advertised to chill the plate down to 7.2 degrees Celsius, I have tested the Chiller to have a plate temperature of 5 degrees, which is impressive.

The first test setup is 100 mL of water in two steel measuring cups. One of the cups is placed on the tabletop which is room temperature, while the other is placed on the Chiller. Ambient temperature remains at 18 degrees Celsius. The water is initially at 12 degrees Celsius in both cups, and temperature probes are placed in the water. A measurement is taken every 5 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. Here were the results:

The data collected shows that the Chiller decreased the water temperature to hit a peak at 9 degrees for 10 minutes. The air-cooled cup heated up to a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius.

The second test setup consisted of two cans of soda, each holding 355 mL of mainly water and sugar. One can was placed on a tabletop while the other was placed on the Chiller. Note that the bottoms of the cans were flushed inward, reducing direct contact with the metal plate. The temperatures of the cans were initially 4 degrees Celsius (straight from the fridge). Temperature probes were then taped onto the side of each can at the middle. Ambient temperature remained at 18 degrees Celsius. A measurement was taken every 5 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. Here were the results:

The graph revealed a linear progression for the air-cooled can, while the can on the Chiller remained at 4 degrees for 15 minutes before raising one degree. I've also noted an observation about the temperature gradient along the whole can; the bottom of the can was much colder than the top. This was expected as the can was only cooled from the bottom when placed on the Chiller.

Page 5 : Conclusion

The CoolIT Beverage Chiller is a very cool product, literally. Most computers are not situated beside refrigerators (well, at least mine isn't). So, computer enthusiasts need a way of keeping their beverages cold. The Chiller is the perfect product for keeping a beer cold when enjoying a good gaming session or even a bottle of water chilled when finishing up an essay on a laptop at the library.

Nothing beats an ice cold drink which stays cold to the last drop, so an investment in a CoolIT Beverage Chiller would be very attractive to gamers and enthusiasts. The Chiller does a great job of chilling drinks and I recommend this product to any enthusiast looking to stay cool.

Advantages

• Keeps drinks cool!

• Innovative

Advantages
[list><li]Doesn't keep your coffee warm too[/list]

Overclockers Online would like to thank CoolIT for making this review possible.