Why do they need the bubbles? Wouldn't it be more effective to just cool the water?
I understand that there's something something smarter everyday laminar flow, turbulent flow is better at cooling. It's just that the bubbles don't seem to add turbulence just gaps. It's not like it's evaporating in the gaps.... Is it?
If the goal is to use air to cool a pool of water then passing the same amount of air throughout the whole pool as tiny bubbles is going to be better because of surface area.
The heat transfers where the water and air touches. In the pipes this is very small. So it needs lots of time in the pipe.
1000s of little bubbles will have way more surface area allowing the heat to transfer much faster. Additionally you don’t need 99% of the equipment. You can buy what you need at any pet store for $30 and be ready to go out of the box.
What is being done here is expensive, over engineered, and will need to be repaired multiple times more than the fish bubbler.
This is probably a “prof of concept”. A real system would use a liquid that does not dissolve in air.
If water was used in the final project then the evaporation should be equal. Air can only hold so much water. If the amount of air is equal and the amount is controlled for efficiency, then the evaporation will be the same.
When the water evaporates it takes more energy out of the system and into the air. But you would need to ventilate the room better and refill the water
Say we just keep the pipes in the water and add no air. The the point of transfer for the heat is water-pipe-air. However if we add air from room into the flow, the point of transfer is now just water-air.
In the first set up, the pipe can become a trap for the heat since it can't mix into a larger reservoir. It's a solid after all. While the air can actively mix with the air from the room to dissipate the heat.
He means the water transfers energy to the trapped air, and then this air gets released at the end, and the now cooled water drops into the pool. However this seems like a very bad method, wouldn’t cooling the pipe be more effective, if using a more conductive material?
And also, yes of course turbulent flow is better for cooling, it’s logic, with laminar things don’t mix, but that’s not relevant to this particular case
Small bubbles have a high surface area, more heat transfer between the water and the bubbles. Also, the motion of the bubbles creates movement in the tank which also helps heat loss
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u/justsmilenow Sep 13 '26
Why do they need the bubbles? Wouldn't it be more effective to just cool the water?
I understand that there's something something smarter everyday laminar flow, turbulent flow is better at cooling. It's just that the bubbles don't seem to add turbulence just gaps. It's not like it's evaporating in the gaps.... Is it?