Air cooling of the circulating coolant (water)

[Vlad_UA]

The purpose of developing this device was to get away from the water supply and sewerage. With this device, you can maintain a constant temperature of the coolant at the inlet to the column!

[Yummyrum]

Nice work Vlad .

Should work great up to a certain power level .
Is it going to be automated speeds or you manually control?

[Vlad_UA]

Is it going to be automated speeds or you manually control?

Currently, the control is carried out manually. During the testing process, the device was improved several times. In the future, I plan to automate the control using a microcontroller based on the readings of the temperature sensor.

[Saltbush Bill]

The purpose of developing this device was to get away from the water supply and sewerage.
[/quote]
Not sure that you have developed a new idea there, fan and pump speed controls might be an improvement on some similar designs.....without going hunting for different versions spread around the net I cant say for sure.
There are a whole lot more similar builds out there if you look around both here and other forums.

[greggn]

The purpose of developing this device was to get away from the water supply and sewerage.

Not sure that you have developed a new idea there, fan and pump speed controls might be an improvement on some similar designs.....without going hunting for different versions spread around the net I cant say for sure.
There are a whole lot more similar builds out there if you look around both here and other forums.

RedwoodHillbilly used transmission coolers and a remarkably small volume of water. His photo ...

[Vlad_UA]

RedwoodHillbilly used transmission coolers and a remarkably small volume of water. His photo ...

image.png

I made a cooler so that you can distill anywhere where there is electricity, not just in the kitchen or bathroom. The circulated volume of water in the system is 2500 ml.

[IAmPistolPete]

How much power are you putting into the boiler that you're knocking it down with 2.5l? And for how long? Take-off rate?

[Buffalo]

What was the radiator and fan originally used for?

[still_stirrin]

… I made a cooler so that you can distill anywhere where there is electricity, not just in the kitchen or bathroom. The circulated volume of water in the system is 2500 ml.

Do you use ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) or an algaecide in your coolant?

Recirculating water, especially if warmed in the cycle, would tend to develop/grow algae. A little chlorine in the water would help, but can be hard on the metals of the system. DAD300 uses UV light in his distillery’s coolant system to keep algae growth at a minimum.
ss

[still_stirrin]

How much power are you putting into the boiler that you're knocking it down with 2.5l? And for how long? Take-off rate?

From another thread, his boiler inputs 1kW at 800ml/hr production.
ss

[Vlad_UA]

What was the radiator and fan originally used for?

air cooled condenser

[Vlad_UA]

Do you use ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) or an algaecide in your coolant?

No. I use product 30% as coolant.

[kennstminet]

No. I use product 30% as coolant.

Good idea.

This design depends on the temperature difference between cooling water out from the condenser and the ambient air temperature. 40DegC / 104 F difference works great, 15 DegC / 59 F difference will not allow much cooling.
An efficient condenser should be able to provide water at 65 DegC / 149 F. The lower the ambient temp., the better the system works.
The exhaust air is getting pretty warm and will heat a room very well. So, venting to the environment will be wise.

[still_stirrin]

Do you use ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) or an algaecide in your coolant?

No. I use product 30% as coolant.

Certainly it’s not a “product” you would consume, right?

That would be highly discouraged because you don’t know how the heat exchanger is fabricated, or how the tubes and reservoir are soldered.

Ethanol does have a marginally advantageous heat transfer coefficient over pure water, but it also depresses the boiling point. So, if enough heat is transferred into the coolant, you may have cavitation initiating, which would radically upset the heat transfer from the vapor.

Water with a little anti-freeze would work better and more consistently as the temperature of your vapors increase (as they will througout the run).
ss

[Bolverk]

Very cool.

I've had plans to build one myself, I just have several other projects in line first. Instead of manual fan control I'd had planned on using a pid to control the fan so it would maintain water temp a bit better.

[Vlad_UA]

Instead of manual fan control I'd had planned on using a pid to control the fan so it would maintain water temp a bit better.

To automate control I plan to use Arduino and a sketch from diy water cooling for pc.

[Yummyrum]

Do you use ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) in your coolant?
ss

I hope not . That stuff is toxic and could enter your still if a leak develops .
Only ever use Food grade Propylene Glycol for this use .

[Yummyrum]

Getting back to this design , I would see it perhaps useable for a VM or LM still where coolant temps and flow is not so critical , but for a CM , it would be problematic .

[shadylane]

Getting back to this design , I would see it perhaps useable for a VM or LM still where coolant temps and flow is not so critical , but for a CM , it would be problematic .

With controls for the pump and fan.
I think Vlad can figure out how to use what he has to keep a CM dephlegmator happy.
Just guessing that's enough cooling capacity for a 4" column.
Are there upgrades in the future?

[Vlad_UA]

Just guessing that's enough cooling capacity for a 4" column.

I chose an air-cooled condenser for this device based on the maximum power sold in the alembic.
2 kW + 30% = 2.6 kW.
2 kW - heating power,
30% - reserve,
2.6 kW - air-cooled condenser.

Are there upgrades in the future?

During testing, I encountered cavitation and overpressure in the system. This is solved by installing an air vent, but part of the coolant evaporates! In the future, I plan to install an additional (buffer) water tank. The upper level of the buffer must be 50 mm higher than the upper level of the radiator. Also, you can replace the circulation pump with an aquarium pump by lowering it into a buffer tank and removing the air vent from the system. This will make the project cheaper.

[Wildcats]

I like your use of the radiator. Have you had any problem with the radiator vibration? Does it move around on the floor as it's running? If so maybe some kind of frame would help. Nice work man.

[Vlad_UA]

Have you had any problem with the radiator vibration? Does it move around on the floor as it's running?

No, everything is OK

[MooseMan]

Interesting Vlad, I like it.

I messed around with air cooling for a bit too and managed to build a PC for my small gin still that does the job really well.

[shadylane]

During testing, I encountered cavitation and overpressure in the system. This is solved by installing an air vent, but part of the coolant evaporates!

Maybe install header tank and a bypass valve.
A pressure regulator in place of a bypass would also work.