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build a better aquarium water heater
2020-Jan-28, Tuesday 06:54 pmI want an inline electronic water heater, something that sits inside a stream of water, rather than the separate glass tubes with heating elements that fail quickly. While a microwave emitter would be very efficient at heating water, there should be something safer and easier for using in water tanks around kids.
Idea #1: Wikipedia tells me that liquid water also absorbs energy at much more reasonable wavelengths (1950, 1450, 1200, and 970 nm), and it turns out that LEDs or laser diodes are available in those near-infrared wavelengths.
Idea #2: So what if you took a "hot" LED light, but you used it just for the heat rather than the light? It could still go inside a glass tube, but the light could shine down a sealed metal tube (so the light doesn't escape into the tank) with heat fins radiating from it, all safely contained inside the glass tube so the the water and detritus would never affect those heat fins. It might even help to make it a filled glass cylinder (glass melted all though those heat fins), so there's direct heat transfer without an air gap. Maybe a solid cylinder breaking wouldn't necessarily be the end of its usefulness, just add some glue to the break to seal it then stick it back in the water.
Idea #3: But you've got hot LED lights on top of your tank already. The industry is even coming up with elegant ways to divert that heat. So why not directly incorporate it into the system, running water along the length of the LED strip to absorb that heat, eliminating the need for a separate water heater? You'd still need a way to keep water flowing without taking on heat, otherwise you risk overheating the tank and killing the fish. So, how do we electronically divert water flow between two paths as needed? I'm not seeing a simple T-joint where you can divert from one output to another, but you could have that same joint with a solenoid water valve on each output, then you actively open/close each one to switch flow.
I don't see a reason it would be impossible.
So who wants to create a new aquarium supply company? I have new product ideas to explore. :)
Idea #1: Wikipedia tells me that liquid water also absorbs energy at much more reasonable wavelengths (1950, 1450, 1200, and 970 nm), and it turns out that LEDs or laser diodes are available in those near-infrared wavelengths.
- 1950nm diode, laser diode
- 1450nm diode
- 1200nm diode
- 970nm diode, laser diode
Idea #2: So what if you took a "hot" LED light, but you used it just for the heat rather than the light? It could still go inside a glass tube, but the light could shine down a sealed metal tube (so the light doesn't escape into the tank) with heat fins radiating from it, all safely contained inside the glass tube so the the water and detritus would never affect those heat fins. It might even help to make it a filled glass cylinder (glass melted all though those heat fins), so there's direct heat transfer without an air gap. Maybe a solid cylinder breaking wouldn't necessarily be the end of its usefulness, just add some glue to the break to seal it then stick it back in the water.
Idea #3: But you've got hot LED lights on top of your tank already. The industry is even coming up with elegant ways to divert that heat. So why not directly incorporate it into the system, running water along the length of the LED strip to absorb that heat, eliminating the need for a separate water heater? You'd still need a way to keep water flowing without taking on heat, otherwise you risk overheating the tank and killing the fish. So, how do we electronically divert water flow between two paths as needed? I'm not seeing a simple T-joint where you can divert from one output to another, but you could have that same joint with a solenoid water valve on each output, then you actively open/close each one to switch flow.
I don't see a reason it would be impossible.
So who wants to create a new aquarium supply company? I have new product ideas to explore. :)