-=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?
- From: Gman <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:10:44 -0400
Correction: Fluorescent lamps are NOT vacuum sealed. As I mentioned,
inside the sealed tube is a gas that glows when electricity is applied. I
just should not have included the word "vacuum". :O)
Peace,
G
"The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:21 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: My LCD produces too much heat?
> Rudy,
> No part of my description here takes into account devices that are
> actually designed to produce heat as their basic function such as electric
> clothes dryers, electric space heaters, electric water heaters, etc..
> Those
> intentionally convert electricity into heat. I will only be discussing
> unintentional heat generation here.
>
> At its simplest form (and within the context of electronics and the
> components it brings to life), operational heat is generated as a result
> of
> friction at the molecular level. As current travels through a wire, there
> is a certain amount of resistance as electrons jump from one atom to the
> next on their way to the other end of the line. While most of the
> electricity will reach its intended target (the appliance at the end of
> the
> line) and be converted into other types of energy (it'll make a blender
> spin
> or a washing machine pump water), this resistance results in a little bit
> of
> heat (and a subsequent loss of a small amount of that initial electrical
> potential) that actually warms up the wire. Attach too many appliances to
> the same extension cord and it'll REALLY heat up, so much that it becomes
> a
> fire hazard since the heat generated can eventually melt the protective
> insulator and cause a short circuit or worse.
>
> With electronic components such as a CPU, they are made up primarily of
> microscopic transistors that are constantly turning on and off to direct
> data through itself. The switching is accomplished by applying a voltage
> to
> what is called a gate. Depending on the type of transistors employed, the
> presence of voltage at the gate allows current to pass from one side of
> the
> transistor to the other. The absence of voltage will instead turn the
> transistor off. Since there are hundreds of millions of transistors in a
> modern CPU and those switches operate at astronomical speeds (measured in
> Ghz.), a LOT of heat is produced by all of the miniscule resistances
> present
> throughout the processor. As more transistors are added to CPU designs
> and
> the faster they make the chip, the more heat it will produce simply
> because
> there will be more places for resistance to fight against the flow of
> electricity. Fortunately, they have been working towards reducing the
> size
> of the transistors used in these beasts. Each reduction in transistor
> size
> allows them to operate using less electricity and that means less
> electrical
> resistance and therefore less heat.
>
> I could go into a lot of additional examples, but I think those two
> should help explain that the heat originally produced is a product of the
> electricity that never gets to be used for whatever the component is
> supposed to do. Operational heat results in the loss of a tiny percentage
> of the actual electricity used by the component or system, even if the
> heat
> produced is almost unbearable.
>
> As far as your LCD goes, there are fluorescent lamps behind the window
> you stare at all day. They operate by exciting the electrons within a gas
> inside a vacuum sealed tube when voltage is applied to them. This gas has
> a
> much smaller resistance than the filament found in incandescent bulbs (the
> screw in type found in many table lamps), so they don't natively produce
> anywhere near as much heat as incandescent lamps. They also cannot
> produce
> anywhere near as much heat as your tower. Just consider the fact that
> your
> Hanns only uses 49 watts Max of electricity (watts = voltage X amperes)
> compared to hundreds of watts being used by the tower. Of course, this
> doesn't mean fluorescent lamps don't get warm over time, just not to the
> degree you are questioning here. LCD monitors and TVs should all have
> vents
> to allow heat to escape rather than build up within the confines of the
> casing. If these vents are covered, clogged, etc., I could see this
> problem
> developing after a while of continuous monitor use. If the vents are
> unobstructed, consider the placement of your tower. Is it possible that
> the
> heat is actually rising up from the back of the tower and making it seem
> like it's coming from the monitor? In our computer room, the two nearly
> constant running towers certainly do act as room warmers as you described,
> but the two LCD monitors add very little to that equation.
>
> Peace,
> G
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