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Students submerge computers in mineral oil

Wayne Whaley | The News Herald

East Burke High computer engineering student Benjamin Huffman looks at the submersed computer tank as it boots up as part of temperature testing for his classes submersed computer project.

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Whaley's Work Bench

By Julie N. Chang | The News Herald

Published: April 22, 2009

CONNELLY SPRINGS - There are no fish in these tanks. Instead you'll find gallons of mineral oil and computer parts. And maybe a Cavalier, if the students can locate him again.

As part of a computer technology class at East Burke High School, the students, assistant teacher Justin Walker from Appalachian State University and teacher Wayne Whaley successfully submerged two functioning computers in mineral oil after just a few weeks' work.

The mineral oil acts as a coolant that helps a computer operate at a higher efficiency, Whaley said. Temperatures may be lowered as much as 45 degrees compared to an air-cooled computer.

Senior Aaron Queen said the older-model computers were donated and had to be cleaned before submersion.

Junior Steven Chester said they installed the computers into two special containers before being filling them with oil.

One computer, complete with web camera, is in a tank with a radiator that cools the computer another 10 degrees.

The second has a bubbler for additional cooling.

Chester said both submersed computers have wireless internet capabilities. Neither has a CD drive or floppy-disk drive.

And Chester doesn't recommend submerging the keyboard or mouse or a hard drive in oil.

The oil lowers a hard-drive's efficiency, Queen said.

This created a challenge for the team that had a cool computer, but a hot hard drive, Whaley said.

Their solution was adding a fan to the lid, Chester said as he pointed to the device.

Whaley said the students were eager to tackle the project and came to class each day prepared to work.

The students took ownership of the second tank and didn't allow either himself or Walker to help, Whaley said.

The students conducted tests on both tanks, comparing temperatures, Whaley said.

They presented both submerged computers to the school on Wednesday in an effort to attract students into computer engineering classes, Queen said.

The team's success landed them in the spotlight of a statewide newsletter, ExplorNet Career Tech. Whaley said they are the first students in the state to accomplish submerging a computer.

The idea for the project began five years ago when Whaley brought it up with students. After that he researched the subject while a few students kept up their interest.

With help from the McMahans at Burke Animal Clinic the team acquired a large amount of mineral oil at a low cost, making the project feasible, Whaley said.

Queen noted that computers may also be submerged in vegetable oil or baby oil. But the former would lead to build-up on the computer and the latter is expensive and scented.

Queen said he hopes to submerge a computer on his own, but isn't sure whether he can afford to yet.
Whaley does not recommend submerging your computer at home.

But although the initial costs may be high, he said the added longevity for the computer will offset those costs.

For his class' next project, Whaley said he hopes to submerge a laptop.

Along with Chester and Queen the student team consisted of juniors Benjamin Huffman, Yupeng Lee, Lia Yang, Paul Kong and senior Jerry Moua.

Find out more about the students and their project at Wayne Whaley's blog: http://web2.burke.k12.nc.us/blogs/wwhaley.