What can I use to create an intercooler for my entertainment center cabinet?
I have a wooden cabinet that houses my PS3, my audio receiver, a 5 disc cd changer/radio, and my cable box DVR. The temperatures get way too hot in the cabinet! Currently I have drilled many 3 inch holes in the back of the cabinet, but without a fan or something to circulate the air, the heat is trapped and will drastically reduce the life of my precious items. The cabinet sits about an inch from the wall. If I could connect a couple of computer fans onto the wood, I believe that would produce adequate air circulation .My problem is that I do not have a computer by the TV, and I am not sure what I can use to power 5 fans. I was suggested to purchase a computer power supply, which has the plug-ins for computer fans, but I thought I might need additional hardware, such as a motherboard, or also software, such as an operating system, to tell the power supply to power the fans. Please let me know if you have any ideas, or have made something yourself. Thanks!
There are a few things you should consider: (1) move your audio receiver out of your cabinet, away from the other components (or at least move it to the top of your cabinet if you haven't already done so.) (The amplifier section of your audio receiver is the greatest source of heat with the equipment you're using); (2) upgrade to a higher performance equipment enclosure such as those made by Middle Atlantic Products*; (3) install thermally controlled air-moving devices (see below), preferably low-noise. Option (3) is far from ideal when used with a conventional "entertainment center cabinet" so I recommend placing much more emphasis on pursuing options (1) or (2).
Another option is to purchase a fan tray and place your audio receiver directly on top of a fan tray equipped with 3 or 6 low-noise fans. (Note: you'll have to attach large rubber feet to the underside of the fan tray to provide space for air circulation.) Again, if you choose to use your existing entertainment center the least you should do is retrofit a vertical fan tray, fan assembly, or low-noise exhaust fan(s) at the top of the back panel. (Also, it is very important that you always use the proper protective finger guards with all individual or exposed fans.)
For less demanding thermal management applications I'm partial to using simple thermally controlled, push-pull fan tray units (commonly used in lower-density rack-mount applications.) Below is a list of manufacturers and suppliers of thermal management solutions for cooling electronic equipment.
*Middle Atlantic Products
http://www.middleatlantic.com
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http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustirack_fan_tray.asp
http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/Indices/Products.asp?sid=4648F80098B617F&N=4294964201
http://www.budind.com/accessories1.shtml
http://www.controlres.com/varicool.htm
http://www.cool-blast.com/en/index.html
http://www.cool-blast.com/download/pdf/CoolBlast-EN.pdf
http://www.dataandpower.com
http://www.degreec.com
http://www.elma.com/Admin/ProductionFiles1/ProductTypeFile/13/English/Ventilation.pdf
http://www.gardtecinc.com/fantrays.htm
http://www.hammondmfg.com/racks.htm
http://www.hoffmanonline.com/product_catalog/section_index.aspx?cat_1=34&cat_2=2383&SelectCatID=2383&CatId=2383
http://www.kaparel.com/pressroom/literature/catalog/08-Cooling.pdf
http://www.kaparel.com/products/electronics/cooling/rackmountedfans/rackmountedfans.asp
http://www.kooltronic.com
http://www.mcleanthermal.com/packagedAir/index.jsp
http://www.olson.co.uk/19_accessories.htm
http://www.orionfans.com/html/rack_fans.html
http://www.rittal-corp.com/it/cooling/airconditioners/index.cfm