1. CPU and GPU temperatures were reduced by 12-16°C and 46.1-48.2°C, respectively

2. System fan noise was decreased by 8.1-19.6 dBA

3. Rendering performance was increased by 71 FPS-195 FPS in HeavyLoad

4. Coefficient of Performance: 0.01323-0.00745 °C/W

5. LEAKSHIELD successfully protects from small (pinhole) leaks

One of the first key components that needed to be specified were the water blocks. The water blocks are essential to provide a medium through which heat from the CPU and GPU are transferred to the liquid coolant. Bykski models were chosen for both the GPU and CPU water blocks because of their compatibility with the system and efficient design that complimented what was desired in the system. It was decided to use the V2 version for its ease of installation and compatibility with the size restraint of the existing case.

Another key component in this system is the radiators that cool the internal liquid cooling loop to desirable temperatures. To cool the liquid, it was desirable to make use of radiators with multiple fans. To both be as efficient as possible, and stay within the sizing requirements of a standard medical cart, it was decided to use a dual-radiator system for maximum efficiency in cooling with four 120mm fans (two in each radiator). The final design includes two Corsair Hydro XR5 240mm radiators and four Noctua NF-A12x25 120mm fans.

For the third key component of the cooling system, the objective was to make use of any extra room in a medical cart. Thus, the ability to add an external case was possible and allowed for any extra additions of cooling solutions to the system. The external case allows for the addition of the dual-radiator system described above and additional components including the reservoir, pump, and any monitoring electronics such as Arduino to be installed. The design includes an acrylic frame with custom mounts for brackets and radiators for easy installation. The design was chosen because of the durability of the metal corners and the inherent stability in the interlocked nature of the side panels.

An essential component for the system was to utilize a leakage-protection system to ensure the long term reliability of the medical computer. During medical operations, it is not ideal for an operating team to pause surgery to do computer maintenance, so it was important to design against the risk of leaks in a liquid cooling system. The LEAKSHIELD uses a vacuum pump to introduce and maintain negative pressure in the closed system to keep coolant from exiting any part of the system. By utilizing the LEAKSHIELD, the reliability of the final design is improved and it is able to mitigate the risk of leaking coolant. The LEAKSHIELD was chosen because of its ease in installation and its readily available nature in the commercial market for bulk option purchases and manufacturing.

In addition to the four major components of the cooling system, two dummy heaters were developed to simulate the thermal loads of the GPU and CPU respectively. While thermal loads can be achieved using common CPU and GPU benchmarking software such as FurMark and HeavyLoad, the use of dummy heaters allow for more precise control of power input and thus more precise heat dissipation measurements without putting the actual computer components at risk of overheating failure. The dummy heaters were machined from 6061 Aluminum. It uses 12V 60W 3D printer heating cartridges as a heat source and PT100 RTD cartridges as a temperature sensor.