I thought I would post some of what I've been fiddling with lately - if you haven't seen the S5 acrylic case mod I did a while back, it's probably worth checking it out for some context:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1086882What I've now been working on is controlling the heat from the miners, and try to come up with a more modular large scale solution. I really wanted it to be self-contained and not too far of a radical departure from the S5... Since I love me some 8020, it's always the starting point for my larger projects:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3207s.jpg&t=665&c=ajkaWC0uQ1W6bw)
My idea was to have a way to mount multiple S5's and their respective power supplies at the same time, this was the general layout I had in mind (position, not orientation):
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3209s.jpg&t=665&c=woq89VvX2MLiiw)
I then just repeated the spacing so that I could have 8 rows of 3 sets of S5's/PSU's, for a total of 24 to a build:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3206s.jpg&t=665&c=8txOKwnHU5CzaQ)
Next stop was my laser cutter, and I tried to come up with something that would be workable within my cutting area (12x20), but also modular, so if I wanted to make a different mounting plate for a different miner, like an S5, then it would be possible as well. In production, I wouldn't use acrylic, I would probably use aluminum - but acrylic is super easy to work with, so it's always my starting point. Notice the notch above the PSU, this is so the power cable can loop back out so only a little bit is in the air chamber:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3221s.jpg&t=665&c=8eqHFQNEqDgUUw)
Let me tell you, repeating this 24 times starts to get tedious.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3223s.jpg&t=665&c=oSaNrIxxJZfjCA)
The actual air chamber is meant to work as a plenum, to channel the air out to where-ever. While I have all the fans connected in the initial design, I have toyed around with the idea of just using two large extractor fans somewhere further down in the plenum to eliminate the unit-fans altogether:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3218s.jpg&t=665&c=VvJdNTnlCSKWxw)
One of the things I love about 8020 is that you can use the extrusion as guides - so all of the mounting plates slide into the enclosure - making it easy to work with. If a machine goes down, at worse you have to remove the two machines in front of it to get access - but I haven't really had any machines fails, so that wasn't high on the list of my design goals.
I use their 2x1 extrusions for extra strength and rigidity, but where they slide in I use two singles, so one locks in after they're all installed to stop any air from flowing out to the side. You can also see how well the acrylic sits in the extrusion:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3229s.jpg&t=665&c=YocRQEOl9bIt4A)
Top down, you can see that everything comes snugly together, but still decent spacing around the S5's and PSU's:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3232s.jpg&t=665&c=WqUyEzF51ZPusg)
And then with all the miners installed - I had originally intended to use it in more of a table-top configuration as in the picture, but it turned out to be inconvenient in working with, so I changed it to an upright design:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3228s.jpg&t=665&c=ciEreSZORFWkrg)
Finally, here it is with some of the other machines, starting to get setup - for the side panels I just used high-heat fire rated wood composite - the back panels are removed so you can see the machines, and it vents up into the ceiling:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.analogx.com%2Fimages%2FplenumS5v1%2FDSCF3240s.jpg&t=665&c=86W-CbSkLzF3Nw)
All in all the design works really well with the addition of some extraction fans - the problem I had without them was that the PSU fans didn't generate enough static pressure, and the air would actually vent out through them even with their fans going. Since the air was hot, this in turn would thermal shut down the PSU and the miner - super annoying when it first happened, since some of the PSU's were more susceptible to it than others, and it looked more like some strange PDU issue at first.
One super-nice thing about this design is that it gets the hot air all in one place and keeps it away from the S5's, so the space in general runs much cooler. The acrylic cases work great also, as they channel the flow over all of the board, not just the part closest to the fan.
I've done a couple modifications since I took the pictures, and I'm also redesigning the mounting plate - I'm probably going to create a separate air channel for the PSU's, and have it more of a split system. I really like J4bberwock's new PSU design:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1178099.0So I'm going to be focusing my future designs more around them... And next on my list is playing around a bit with water cooling, so who knows where that will lead me.
Anyway, hopefully this sparks some ideas for other people on ways to control airflow... It would also be super easy to extend this design to do some sound control also, if that was an issue.