Danger lurks around every corner when you’re a gamer. I’m not just talking about the virtual baddies that you blast with futuristic or fantasy weapons; I’m talking real-life catastrophes that destroy thousands of dollars of equipment. Take this scenario for example:
As many gamers (or computing enthusiasts) we usually have our favorite caffeinated soda at our desk, chilled to perfection. As time wears on you get involved in your game; so much that you forget about the liquid refreshment sitting idly by, longing for your parched lips. When you have finally defeated the alien armada, you remember that all great heroes deserve some Bawls, so you reach down and quickly chug from your forgotten can…
There is nothing worse than expecting frosty, bubbly, sugary goodness and being met with flat, lukewarm backwash. Immediately your reflexes kick in and you spew the concoction all over your monitor, which splashes onto your monitor, keyboard and computer. The liquid immediately shorts out your motherboard, the sugar gums up your keyboard, and the acid removes the film from your LCD monitor. Oh, and you get brain cancer.
Thousands of dollars could have been saved if you only had some way of keeping your beverage of choice frosty-cold while you go about saving the world. CoolIT has the solution in a USB-powered Beverage Chiller. They do it because they feel morally obligated to protect the accident-prone gaming community from disasters such as this, thus preserving our communities and life as we know it.
The unit comes in an easily-opened plastic box, which doubles as the instruction leaflet (not that much is needed). Inside the box is the unit itself, which looks just like a shiny white plastic enclosure with a 2½ inch blue-anodized aluminum circle on top (about the same diameter of a 12 ouce soda can). A five-foot USB cord is permanently attached to the rear, which supplies the unit’s power.
The bulk of the unit is comprised of a hidden aluminum heatsink, which serves to collect and dissipate the heat generated from the Peltier junction.
Upon closer inspection you can see a small exhast fan on the rear, and a front vent for air intake. A finned aluminum heatsink can be seen through the vent opening. The CoolIT Beverage Chiller is actually a pretty simple device applied in a very creative way. This unit is actually a USB-powered Peltier cooler.
So how does a Peltier work to protect me against gaming-related disasters?
A Peltier Junction is a solid-state thermoelectric cooler (TEC), similar to a transistor. It has the amazing effect of getting rather hot on one side and cold on the other, transferring heat energy from one side of the junction to the other. Because they are no moving parts, they are amazingly rugged and stable (much more reliable than compressors used in air conditioners or refrigerators). A large heatsink is required on the hot side to dissipate the thermal energy generated, thus keeping the cold side frosty.
When using a TEC inside a computer, the power must me monitored and throttled to prevent condensation from occuring (as in CoolIT’s Freezone CPU Cooler). Since this unit is outside your case, it runs at full blast. The resulting condensation actually serves to make the unit more effective, by providing a liquid heat-transfer medium between the can and the cold-plate. The cold plate is sealed with a rubber gasket to prevent water from getting inside the unit.
The small fan is actually rather quiet, and you really won’t notice it being on. There isn’t a huge amount of exhaust airflow, and it feels only slightly warm, so there is little risk of this unit overheating. Testing the underside heatsink with an IR thermometer showed us that is was 100 degrees, well within a safe range. The cooling plate reached a low of 48 degrees fahrenheight, which is a good amount of cooling for the modest heat generated.
48 degrees isn’t as cold as a refrigerator, but it is enough to keep your beverage within an acceptable range of quench-ability.
There is no on/off switch, or even a power light.. You just plug it in and go. Peltiers require a decent amount of power, and I’m amazed that someone has gotten one to work with USB’s 5-volt maximum. The unit is rated for 1.2 Amps, far beyond USB’s specification of 0.5 Amps. Because the unit requires so much power, it may not work with underpowered USB hosts, such as a passive USB hub or older laptops. Because there is no power light, the way to tell if the unit is working is to feel if the exhaust fan is spinning. You could also feel if the aluminum plate is cool to the touch, because the cooling effect is almost immediate.
We tested the unit with an IR thermometer on several test beverages, and on the cold plate itself. The testing environment was an average room temperature of 70 degrees. At the start of testing, the refrigerated cans were at 43°F. In each session, one can was allowed to sit on the CoolIT Beverage Chiller, while the other was allowed to sit in the room naturally. The amount of liquid in each session was the same for both test subjects (completely full, half-full or quarter-full).
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The cooling effect of this unit is very minimal when you consider the 3-4 watts being consumed. In contrast, a typical coffee mug warmer provides about 25 watts of heating. Also take into account that most soda cans are concave (a design that allows the minimum amount of aluminum to be used but still stand up to the pressure inside the can), therefore making minimal physical contact with the cold plate. The condensation produced by the unit helps to transfer heat between the can and the Peltier, but not as effective as a flat bottom would be. The unit works best with aluminum cans, as glass bottles do not conduct heat very well.
This is an innovative little gadget that actually does work to keep an open soda within drinkable temperatures for longer. It is more effective for those who casually sip their beverage, as the cooling efficiency increases with less liquid. It isn’t very effective trying to cool down an object that is already room temperature, but instead keeps an already cold object from heating up too quickly.
The unit must have a strong USB power source, such as the ports on your computer or Xbox 360. Since the Cooler is plugged into the main unit, the included 5-foot cord is woefully inadequate. A USB-extension will work just fine to extend the unit’s reach, though.
The CoolIT USB Beverage Chiller is a little pricey, and can be found online between $30 and $40. While this may not be a have-to-have item for yourself, it would make a perfect holiday gift for the Geek in your life: much better than Norelco electric shavers, wallets, or gift baskets.
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