Thinkpads Forum

I have an X61s that I take with me to construction sites occasionally. Since these areas have a higher level of dust and debris in the air, I would like to attach some sort of small filter to the outside casing where the fan air intake is located. Below is a picture I found on the net of the underside of the X61s. Can anyone tell me which slots are for air intakes?

http://en.dogeno.us/wp-content/uploads/ ... GP5795.JPG (194KB)

Also, below is a picture of the fan/heatsink assembly. Can anyone verify how this works? Does the fan draw air over the CPU, up the angled copper tube and then discharge out the copper vents where the fan is located? Or does the fan only blow on the copper vents to cool the vents and the temperature difference between the vents and the area over CPU naturally cause the heat to flow away from the CPU via the copper tube?

http://www.justforlaptop.com/data/c/41/ ... _fan_1.jpg (192KB)

Admin edit: Changed large inline images to links.

The exhaust fan creates a negative pressure inside the case, and air is sucked inside through the various intakes. I think every hole/vent other than the exhaust is a possible air intake.

The moving air cools various components inside the laptop.

Meanwhile, the copper tube (it's called a "heat pipe") conducts the heat away from the CPU and northbridge and into the other end of the pipe, which has cooling fins attached. Then the air inside the case is sucked by the fan and blown into the cooling fins. Because the heat pipe is a very good thermal conductor, the cooling effect on the fins is transferred to the CPU and northbridge as well.



Adding filters will reduce the airflow coming into the laptop, you might need to ramp up the fan speed to compensate.