5V RIT (Regulator-Ina-Tube)

[candre23]

No, is it something similar?

 

[MastiffMike]

It's a "Bolt On Booster". He's got 2 different versions (one round and one... not?)

 

[Sci]

I don't have anything small enough to measure the temp at the back of the reg. The reg shuts down at 150c, so the temp at the back is probably close to that. That plastic dip stuff is a no-go, as it is not thermally conductive. I need the heat to transfer from the chip to the tube to keep it cool enough to be useful.

Just for the hell of it, I stuck the regulator in an old 510 atty tube and squeezed in a bunch of silicone thermal grease. This stuff isn't meant to fill a 1-2mm gap, but it actually worked halfway decently. It ran for about 50 sec before shutting down. I waited 30 sec for it to cool a bit and got another 30 sec before it shut down again. The tube was pretty hot by that point, but I think it would work well enough for all but the most rabid chain-vaper.

I did some poking around to try to find a non-conductive thermal adhesive that didn't cost an arm and a leg for a couple drops worth, and came up with nada. Arctic Silver makes some, but it's just too expensive. I'm thinking of trying some of this stuff instead. It claims to be non-conductive, and I'm hoping the fact that it "contains metal" will allow it to transfer heat somewhat well.

This may be stretching here, but what about a thermoelectric cooling? Here is one that is used with a CPU heatsink. This one is to big for what you need, but I think these can come in some really small packages. I'll have to do some digging.

 

[candre23]

That wouldn't really solve the problem. I'd still need something to bridge the gap between the hot side of the peltier and the wall of the tube. Besides, those things suck down a lot of juice, and all I really need is some non-conductive thermal putty.

 

[candre23]

Success! See here.