[Work in progess] Burnins Avalon Chip to mining board service

[madxista]

Hej burnin, could you please post a reply on zefirs post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.msg2208716#msg2208716 ?

I want to support your project so you can get few developer chips early.

[Schrankwand]

For water cooling to be truly effective wouldn't this also need a case?  

I think that water cooling might be a nice option but I would rather be doing it myself. Defkin's idea & schematic looks good, but at the end of the day it's something we should really be doing ourselves and leave Burnin to do what we can't. (I realize that Defkin is simply asking Burnin for dimensions btw)
My summer can be terrible tho, so water cooling would def be something i'll look at.

It would need a water cooling radiator,a pump and materials to move.

As far as we know, the Heat Solution needs to be on the BACK of the boards due to technical properties. THink about that everyone.

[tom_o]

Have you any idea of the thermal specs of what you're proposing? i only ask as I used to be into PC watercooling years ago and helped with the design of a couple of peltier/TEC blocks. A flat tube would possibly be the worst solution as it has minimal surface area, the only design with less surface would be a circular pipe!

My main concerns are that a flat tube design could suffer from many hotspots partially due to the height of that tube, thermal pockets and laminar flow along the surfaces you actually want to be cooling. In decent waterblocks turbulence is actually quite desirable up until a the point it seriously impedes the water from flowing, a restrictive waterblock is an generally an effective one, making up for the loss in flow with far better thermal characteristics.

At the very least you'd want those in/outlets to be on the top pointing at the board. Is thinner bar available? Just seems way too tall!

[Defkin]

Have you any idea of the thermal specs of what you're proposing? i only ask as I used to be into PC watercooling years ago and helped with the design of a couple of peltier/TEC blocks. A flat tube would possibly be the worst solution as it has minimal surface area, the only design with less surface would be a circular pipe!

My main concerns are that a flat tube design could suffer from many hotspots partially due to the height of that tube, thermal pockets and laminar flow along the surfaces you actually want to be cooling. In decent waterblocks turbulence is actually quite desirable up until a the point it seriously impedes the water from flowing, a restrictive waterblock is an generally an effective one, making up for the loss in flow with far better thermal characteristics.

At the very least you'd want those in/outlets to be on the top pointing at the board. Is thinner bar available? Just seems way too tall!

Hi tom_o, not really the plan at this point was to over engineer. As for turbulence and surface area I was thinking of stuffing it full with 10mm aluminum wire mesh. Another issue was heat distortion of the tube when the ends and take offs are welded on, the outside needs to be a nice flat surface. 

[m5]

Overall Project status:
Hardware:
Schematic - done
PCB Design - in progress
Firmware:
USB host interface - testing (yes, cgminer thinks the pic32 is an Avalon)
CAN - in progress
Chip interface - in progress

Hi burnin,
what about the pre-calculation mentioned in the ASIC datasheet (section 4.2)? Isn't their FPGA doing that? Or cgminer does that automatically? I'm not sure how difficult is to compute that for each ASIC when it is doing 300 Mhash. I don't see the nonce mentioned there, so probably only one pre-calc is needed for each chain of 10-20 ASICs?

[tom_o]

Hi tom_o, not really the plan at this point was to over engineer. As for turbulence and surface area I was thinking of stuffing it full with 10mm aluminum wire mesh. Another issue was heat distortion of the tube when the ends and take offs are welded on, the outside needs to be a nice flat surface. 

Interesting idea there, lots of surface area without having to deal with cnc milling. Are there types of of that bar with ridges on the inside cause that'd be ideal? Is this the kind of thing you mean?



Cause you could just roll up a bit and slide it down the tube! Not sure about the welding and heat distortion, the blocks we made used a cnc'ed acrylic top with O-ring which wouldn't really be practical for this.

[burnin]

Hej burnin, could you please post a reply on zefirs post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.msg2208716#msg2208716 ?

I want to support your project so you can get few developer chips early.

Big thanks to anyone supporting me with their evaluation chips!
I'll also contact Zefir directly.

To anyone that ordered Chips from Zefir, please support me with your evalutions Chips.
Details here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.msg2208716#msg2208716

Hi burnin,
what about the pre-calculation mentioned in the ASIC datasheet (section 4.2)? Isn't their FPGA doing that? Or cgminer does that automatically? I'm not sure how difficult is to compute that for each ASIC when it is doing 300 Mhash. I don't see the nonce mentioned there, so probably only one pre-calc is needed for each chain of 10-20 ASICs?

At the current stage the precalculation will  be handled by the PIC.
If that turns out to be too slow we will change the host interface to full custom.

I'm also working on a firmware build to verify that the timing is working as planned.
I am taking a slightly different approach then Bkkcoin for the chip interface.
The datasheet states >125ns but i don't think we can go arbitrarily longer than that.
The Datasheet needs some clarification on that, and we also need the timing of the Report pins.
Even though i expect them to be close to 125ns.

I would like the option to water cool, mainly to cut down on noise and heat inside the room.
I have come up with a very simple DIY system that should be bullet proof and easy for anyone to make.
However to make it possible the board layout would need to conform to some standard sizes.

The system I propose is an aluminum rectangle tube capped at both ends with a hose fitting welded at each end.
The boards to be held in place with 2 x square u bolts. The welded hose fittings and capping can be done by your local welder.

Most places stock the tube in 6 meter lengths so if boards are say 150 wide you could fit 40 boards on the one heat sink (prob not practical to do that long).  As you can have the tube any length it will be flexible solution.

I guess the feasibility of this idea depends on if on if burnin is willing to have a predetermined distance and size of mounting holes to suit a standard tube/u bolt configuration.

Seems like a very cost effective solution, it is feasible.
I'll put in 4mm mounting holes to support this configuration.
I will also release mechanical drawings soon so you can start designing custom cooling solutions.
Board dimensions:
100x140mm,

mounting hole spacing:

^
I 92mm    <- 134mm ->
v

[Schrankwand]

I ma just imagining how that looks right now.

6m straight full of boards with USB Hubs dangling below it. If burnin puts some LEDs on that, you could that as a heater with lighting for your room

[wrenchmonkey]

I ma just imagining how that looks right now.

6m straight full of boards with USB Hubs dangling below it. If burnin puts some LEDs on that, you could that as a heater with lighting for your room

Nah,
1. Make multiple rails and bolt the boards to it.
2. Mount in rackmount unit.
3. Mount radiator however you see fit.
4. ? ? ?
5. Profit.

[testsieger]

I am the guy who visited "burnin" and checked that he is a real person.


I have following proofs now: (have them as pics which I took during the visit) the hard facts

1) german passport, with ID number, picture
2) Meldunsgbestätigung Einwohnermeldeamt. (certification of registartion of city Hamburg)
3) formation of a company documents from notary public and adress. This information will show up in a couple of days also in the Handelsregister(Company Registry) in Hamburg. The clients will order directly from this company the boards.


And in addition now the soft facts:

a) adress/website of the company wich will produce the boards for "burnin".
I checked the company turnover. They should have easily the capacity to do what we need and to do this in short time...and in a very good quality!
b) I saw his computer with the board design etc.
Well, I have a diploma in biology,immunology - but I´m able to recognize crap. I will stay in contact with him and also-  if you wish- check the first prototypes.

c) personal impression of "burnin" as a person, facts about his qualification.

He has just got his german engineering degree in "Elektrotechnik"(no need to translate that - Vorsprung durch Technik!, Freude am Minen.) This guy is hard working, a bit shy, he knows what he is doing. I told him that he maybe needs a communication officer or a public relation manager.



I trust him and he is able to do it!

best regards

testsieger



In Heaven…
the mechanics are German ok!
the cooks are French
the police are British
the lovers are Italian
and everything is organized by the Swiss. ok!

In Hell…
the mechanics are French
the police are German
the cooks are British
the lovers are Swiss
and everything is organized by the Italians.

[Min€r]

Really cool thing - I will visit Hamburg too next time, so maybe arrange a meeting with him. Plan to order more than 30 pieces of 20er miners from him  :-)

[Sophokles]

Really cool thing - I will visit Hamburg too next time, so maybe arrange a meeting with him. Plan to order more than 30 pieces of 20er miners from him  :-)

Same here. 20+ miners to be build, and would like to visit his place next time I'm in Hamburg ! 

[burnin]

I trust him and he is able to do it!

best regards

testsieger

Thank you for you kind words.

In Heaven…
the mechanics are German ok!
the cooks are French
the police are British
the lovers are Italian
and everything is organized by the Swiss. ok!

In Hell…
the mechanics are French
the police are German
the cooks are British
the lovers are Swiss
and everything is organized by the Italians.

 

And as promised more board renders:
Now with 6 4mm mounting holes.

Full view:


Cheesy Name:


CAN, USB, POWER (left to right):


As the name is kinda cheesy, any suggestions?

[Knecke]

I would like to build it myself, do you make everything opensource, PCB, BOM sourcode etc.?

[Toolhead]

oh my god!

perfect!

[pitchbend]

Umm the renders look nice.

Name suggestion: SHArp board

BTW Burnin do you have an estimate of when will the ordering webpage be online?

[zif33rs]

Almost good....maybe Combuster? Coinbuster?       ....hmmm..should trademark that...not bad...

[tigerbit]

The "BitBanger"

[Toolhead]

Hashinator

[Kickingpanda]

I have following proofs now: (have them as pics which I took during the visit) the hard facts

1) german passport, with ID number, picture
2) Meldunsgbestätigung Einwohnermeldeamt. (certification of registartion of city Hamburg)
3) formation of a company documents from notary public and adress. This information will show up in a couple of days also in the Handelsregister(Company Registry) in Hamburg. The clients will order directly from this company the boards.

So, can we please see 1, 2 and 3?
This is why you took the pics, right?