The future will be better tomorrow - Dan Quayle
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Student designs cardboard case
A PHD STUDENT from Texas has designed a cardboard computer chassis that could be going into production in an effort to cut computer waste.
Brenden Macaluso designed the Recompute case as part of his graduate thesis at the University of Houston, and a technology start-up incubator is now looking to market the invention to major PC manufacturers.
Marc Nathan, head of entrepreneur development at the Houston Technology Center, told the Houston Chronicle that the incubator and Macaluso had been discussing the best way to market the cases. Initially they plan to sell them to computer hobbyists and environmentally minded enthusiasts.
"He is not just an inventor who came up with something cool. He is a designer who created something through a very specific thought process," said Nathan. "He has thought this through."
The case uses corrugated cardboard to encourage air flow and reduce heat build up. A fan keeps the interior cool, and the motherboard and power supply are separated to minimise heat.
The design of the case also minimises the number of parts needed to fix it together and take it apart for recycling at the end of its life.
"We already know that the computer will be thrown out, so I designed an object that does just that," Macaluso said. "If we were already reusing cases and replacing hardware (and software) on a mass scale, we would not have nearly the problems that we have now."
The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over 80 per cent of computers in the US end up in landfill. µ
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AS long as my memory allows me to remember, i have to confess that water plus cardboard produces -which is of course impossible in home use- that "dontknowbutlookslikeshit" combination.
Hence no, thank you.
My Kingwin magnesium/aluminum case is almost 8 years old now. Its still in mint condition, and I plan on keeping it until ATX is no longer the standard.
What really needs to be done to be green, and reduce waste is to ban all subpar equipment. Like $50 PSU that die after 3 months to a year (my antec 550w is the same age as my case, still works great), and cheap cases that discolor and/or warp.
What happened to the days when people brought their computer to the local shop to be upgraded, instead of buying new and dumping the old completely?
I wonder if you order it online, do you get it shipped in a cardboard box?
Yes Kenny McCormack from South Park has a cardboard pc and he ran WOW fine on that thing :)
If this thing did a good job of noise damping it would be reason enough to buy one
Can you imagine trying to carry a computer like that to a LAN party? It would fall apart on the first trip. Cardboard is not known for strength and being long lasting. It would get soft and decompose very quickly and would get ripped and torn and dinted just from normal use. You'd be needing to replace it way too often and it would end up requiring more trees cut down anyway. Also, cardboard boxes have a tendancy to attract cockroahes and mice who use them as homes...
A standard case made up of steel, aluminium and plastic is far more recyclabe not only because they are made with materials that can be melted down and made into something else again, but also because they have the potential to last long enough to put multiple parts in the one case over a number of years of upgrading before becoming outdated in function or because of a change in the form factor standards of motherboards and so on.
Just because 80% of computers end up in landfill doesn't mean they are bad for the environment or can't be recycled, it just means that most people are either stupid, lazy or a combination of the two...
I moved to a new apartment and bought a new vacuum cleaner in a brand new box and put it inside a closed bag and on my closet - after about three months or so I decided to clean my place with my new cleaner (yea...I'm a dirty boy)- after only three months the box, which was also guarded by the plastic bag, was pretty smelly and in the process of decomposing (rips off accidently+places where you feel the cardboard is "dead" and rotting). And that was my first clean with it - now the vacuum cleaner has off course lost it's home and is HOMELESS !!! HELP HIM !!!
The lesson is don't buy cardboard homes to anything you love (living or electronic) . Just think about all the moisture the cardboard will store and with the PC generating it's heat and the temperature differences - the process will propel itself and you would have to change your case every month or so (given that no one spilled\spat\pissed\thrown-up\jizzed on it) and alwayes keep a backup in your house. AND did you notice the closing "mechanism" on the back which means you can probably open and close the case about 7 times before one of those little things rips......
I like this way of thinking but in the "real world" you need to be smart too - he missed the oppertunity to show us that a eco-friendly (well except for the trees......but how are they anyway huh?) PC case CAN look good AND CAN be functional.....hell.....maybe even just paint the damn thing in eco-friendly black ink or something - but he didn't even do that - he didn't think about "me or you" at all and I doubt he himself took this thing serious - if he would he would have come up with the problems we all stated here - or a way around them.....better luck next time
ps - This is definetly my loooongest comment....I think
Neat novelty idea I suppose, but as a long time system builder I am completely confident this would never pass safety inspections. We have to pass flammability testing on all parts including bezels and clear side panels. Cardboard would not pass, and treated cardboard would not be recyclable.
The recycle rate for steel is about 68%, better than any other metal. Better yet, the steel recycling market is relatively stable compared to that for cardboard which - in this recession - has basically collapsed. Major generators of cardboard waste are getting stuck with tons of the stuff they can't unload.
As to spraying the cardboard, any sort of chemical contaminant will of course render it unrecyclable.
The ignition point of cardboard is about 427 degC or 800 degF. There's no danger of ignition from electronics.
With very limited air flow, hot air will tend to accumulate in the corrugated air pockets. Keeping the channels vertical would help due to natural convection. Putting an insulator around a heat source is obviously silly - unless you want to retain as much heat as possible. Metal cases help facilitate the transfer of heat to the outside air.
This is a cute design, but lack of RF shielding and other impracticalities render it useless as a consumer product.
I have a £80 sleek black case. It looks great, keeps everything chilled. It was an investment, and I plan on using it until they stop making stuff to stick in it.
This product is either a bad idea, or not targeted at me. So for that reason, I'm out ;)
This is nothing new, I remember reading about some guy in Japan doing this three years ago because of the sheer amount of computer cases that get checked out there.
...That a computer case is made of almost 100% recyclable material such as aluminium and steel?
...actually what you need to block EMI is a conductive latice, of the kind you'd get if you sprayed the interior of the case with the appropriate coating. Not hard to do. Ventilation is also fine, the way it's structured means that you've effectively got a deep grill making up the entire top of the case. It's also possible to make cardboard pretty much entirely non-flammable, the kind of retardant spray used in theatres when you have candles on stage would work fine (probably strengthen the cardboard as well).
I don't like it, but it's an entirely viable case. My main issue with it is that it's ugly.
with no EMI shielding these cases will never be sold in the US. And what do you need for EMI shielding? Metal!
If Dell could cost-reduce metal out of their cases it would already be gone.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" who in there right mind would put a computer in cardboard that's like Storing gasoline in a furnace room in the middle of winter when its running 24/7 something bad is bound to happen. I can imagine the lawsuits now mans Cardboard PC sets house on fire.
what about the heat.
cardboard is great at trapping heat.
... that recycled paper/cardboard is not recyclable?
I thought this was a joke! Eww Thats just plain stupid! Cardboard, seriously?! WTF is the world coming to @_@?! Recycled toilet paper Heatsink FTW!!!!!!!!
Wanna make a recyclable computer case? Take an ordinary everyday computer case and stamp a recycle symbol onto it. Provide instructions to the end user on how to remove all the non-recyclable bits, and let them drop it in the recycle bin along with the paper and glass.
Seriously. It's all steel and aluminum. Any municipal recycling program will accept them with the right markings. It's not rocket surgery!
Hello Shoebox
toss at politician
Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips...
close, but no cigar box
go sole-searching
It's just as wellie
Turn on multi-treading
Uh-oh. Time to re-boot.
Lets go one step further, everyone remember eatable panties, made out off rice. Forget it, I'm trying to be green, our sewage plants would be overtaxed by getting rid of our computers.
All that RFI that computers generate...
They were put in metal boxes for a very good reason!
To stop all the am/fm radio's and TV's Recpetion from being totally swamped by noise.
That is why they have a FCC in order that any tom-dick or harry wont mash up the radio spectrum with some cool looking gizmo and endanger peoples lives by jamming HAM/Police/Emergency/Military frequencies...
Though they wont admit liability if some device they certified is gonna cause u cancer cos you sit next to it all day...
http://www.yoshi.us/forums/showthread.php?p=41634#poststop is a link to someone who did this 5 years ago. It looks like this person stacked it and carved the cardboard so the airflow is pretty decent but it still looks cheap.
http://www.sustainable-computer.com/gallery/
This thing looks stupid. Plus the heat and fire hazard. the only thing going for it is all that crap may act as a sound insulator so you won't be deafened by the sound of all the fans it would take to vacate air out of that thing to keep everything cool.
And talk about RF problems.
The student needs to do a bit of study on electrical codes and such. He just might find a whole lot of reasons this is not such a good idea.
It's already been done, by Lupo Computers of Japan in 2005. There are probably earlier instances of card-board computers but that's the first one that sprang to mind. Hmm, maybe i'll go and "invent" something too _ .
Has this person for once considered the fact that putting electrical components that heat up inside a cardboard frame is considered a fire hazard? There is a reason that PC cases are in metal boxes or metal lined plastic such as laptops.
Also don't forget about improper shielding that is used when going to a cardboard chassis. This idea is more dumb than making a PC chassis out of wood.
If i was this student's professor I would have flunked him for this so-called thesis.
Tank-- I thought the same thing, but if the cardboard is cut into strips and connected flat to flat so that it looked like a lattice,, it could be ventilated pretty well (think of those cardboard cat scratching things... for the cat to scratch, not for you to scratch your cat). Of course it would have to be very thick walled for structural strength, so a big foot-print...
I'd like to see one, that's for sure.
Don't BUY Mr Lees' Product, even FREE Its Worthless or Worse, More Defective switches are used in Li cases than money can afford. if You want to blow entire system board out with $100 crapper of case, , well, you'll find out.
Cardboard is of course worse, although not much, maybe even acceptable for shortest of time. cardboard is made os Acid treated rough wood & smells bad & is very bad for you.
ONLY DOPE BUY CARDBOARD OR LI CASE. Reject Both OUT Of HAND.
DRASHEK
I got the entire renderfarm in cardboard boxes. No really.
b applauds this effort to kill more trees.
"The case uses corrugated cardboard to encourage air flow and reduce heat build up." statement sounds as logical as "flammable materials are stored in smokers launge to encourage safety".
corrugated cardboard with its airpockets is pretty good thermal insulator keeping the heat produced inside the case.
aluminum lian-li however uses the entire surface to dissipate heat (besides the airflow).
this "lets be green" mentality is getting out of hand. PC case can serve years. how about just buying quality case and keep it.