[rescue] Re: CRAY-2 coolant

[Stuart Johnson]

The cooling liquid in a CRAY-2 is a 3M product called Flourinert. It
turned out to be less than inert - when a module arced in the tank the
byproduct turned out to be phosgene gas. This is what precipitated the
redesign of the coolant resevoir from four interconnected cylinders to
the waterfall.

We supposedly had a sales rep that would drink a glass of Flourinert
as part of his sales presentation to demonstrate how safe it was. I ran
in to one of the 3M product engineers once who stated that he would not
recommend doing that... In the late 1960's, 3M used to run an ad on TV
that showed mice breathing oxygenated Flourinert.

As far as noise was concerned, they were not quiet. There were a 400Mhz
motor generator set and the coolant pumps located in the mechanical
room. Hearing protection was mandatory.
--
   -Stuart Johnson
    sej at gofast.net

> 
> Message: 14
> Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 11:22:50 -0500
> From: Patrick Giagnocavo <patrick at zill.net>
> To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> Subject: Re: [rescue] Cray liquid (was: SS10/20 death)
> Reply-To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> 
> On Thu, Feb 07, 2002 at 10:34:09AM -0500, Andrew Weiss wrote:
> > On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Dave McGuire wrote:
> > 
> > >   Not that I'm aware of, at least not one of the PVP machines, which are
> > > the ones I'm familiar with.  If one did, I don't think it could have
> > > been the Cray-2.
> > >
> > 
> > I'd love a Cray 1 just for the look.  They have one in the Air and Space
> > Museum with a cutaway showing all the interconnects.  It also functions as
> > a kick ass bench.  I think a tree would look great in the center, only
> > problem is the humidity and watering said tree :-).
> > 
> > Andrew
> 
> One of the Crays was completely quiet, since they used a nontoxic,
> nonconductive liquid as the liquid coolant.  The system boards were
> then immersed in the solution and a pump attached to circulate the
> liquid.
> 
> Anyone know what that liquid was, and whether it can still be purchased?  
> 
> Here's what I would do:
> 
> 1.  get one of those clear-sided PC cases
> 
> 2.  disable the fan in the power supply
> 
> 3.  seal the case except for some holes for the piping for the pump
> out and return lines
> 
> 4.  add the lava-lamp stuff to the inside of the case along with a
> waterproof light source
> 
> 5.  overclock the beast
> 
> Heh.  The amazing lava-lamp linux loader!
> 
> ./patrick
> 
> --__--__--