Flexible Heat Pipe
A flexible metal heat pipe coated or covered with a layer of plastic material to provide the heat pipe the flexibility required in a process to bend the heat pipe without damaging the heat pipe due to over-concentrated stress at a particular section of the heat pipe.
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a heat pipe, and more particularly, to a flexible heat pipe that is covered with a layer of plastic material to permit flexibility by a summary bending device or by manual in bending the heat pipe.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A heat pipe is a very practical super conducting device in executing rapid heat transfer. To cope with different space requirements, the heat pipe permits it to be curved and/or flattened.
Internal construction of the heat pipe contains a capillary structure to execute transfer by a work fluid in liquid state. At where it is bent or flattened, the capillary structure is vulnerable to be deformed due to that the wall of the pipe is elongated or compressed. Therefore, the expected function of the capillary structure is compromised. To minimize destructive effect to the capillary structure, the bending and flattening processes are done by the genuine maker according to the finalized dimension; and it is difficult to make minor modification at the customer's end.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a flexible heat pipe to allow readjustment at the customer's end without affecting heat transfer property of the heat pipe to significantly improve flexibility of the application of the heat pipe.
To achieve the purpose, a heat pipe of the present invention is coated or covered with a plastic material tightly attached to the outer wall of the heat pipe to take advantage of its plastic elasticity property in avoiding non-arc deformation at where the bending takes place due to over-concentrated stress when the heat pipe is bent for readjustment.
Referring to
Now referring to
In the bending process, wall of the heat pipe must be supported and covered up in the clamping device to prevent non-arc curvature changes due to over-concentration of force applied. An outer wall of the heat pipe 12 of the present invention is tightly coated with a layer of plastic material 14 containing Teflon, PU, PP, nylon, rubber, resin, or a plastic compound as a primary composition that delivers plasticity and flexibility at the same time. Upon bending the heat pipe, the coated layer tightly wrapping up the heat pipe causes the heat pipe to be confined. The coating material gives a specific thickness that functions as a clamping device to keep changes in arc direction and area to the minimum, and achieve uniform distribution of stress to avoid over-concentration of force applied while maintaining a specified rounded surface and arc curvature. As illustrated in
To facilitate tight attachment of the plastic material to the heat pipe merely completed with a normal manufacturing process, a surface of the heat pipe is roughened by using a sandblasting, plating or other chemical erosion method, and is then coated with the plastic material by means of mold injection, hot melting, cast polishing, and casting mold tools. To improve adhesion strength between the coated layer and the metallic body of the heat pipe, a solidified adhesive or other adhesive paste may be sprayed on the surface of the heat pipe. However, two sections respectively of vaporization and condensation where must be maintained with the optimal heat transfer contact of the heat pipe are not coated with the plastic material.
A round heat pipe as illustrated in
Similarly, a flat heat pipe is coated with a layer of the plastic material saving both of the vaporization and condensation sections to achieve flexible bending for readjustment either by using of a summary bending tool or by manual as illustrated in
On the aspect of heat dissipation of the heat pipe, the heat pipe, the heating block, and the heat sink are integrated in one piece, meaning it is impossible to change their relative locations. As the market of DIY combination is getting popular, the function of heat sink is provided in a module, e.g., a water-cooling heat dissipation unit that is connected with a flexible hose to the heating block and the heat dissipation member for supplying heat dissipation required by the system. Compared to the water-cooling method, heat dissipation achieved by phase change of a work fluid delivers a heat transfer efficiency approximately 540 times greater than that provided by a single phase liquid heat transfer from using the water cooling method; furthermore, the work principle of phase changes does not depend on support equipment of a pump helps cost reduction; however, changes in flexibility are not as good as the method of arrangement of pipeline. To improve flexibility of the heat pipe, the present invention as illustrated in
The prevent invention provides a structure of a heat pipe to improve a bending process for adjusting the heat pipe and flexibility of the application of the heat pipe, and the application for a patent is duly filed accordingly.
Claims
1. A flexible heat pipe with a metal outer wall thereof tightly coated or covered with a layer of plastic material; a plasticity of the coated layer wrapping up and confining the heat pipe to function as best supportive mold in bending and adjusting curvature of the heat pipe; and a metallic structure of the heat pipe supporting the plastic layer coated on the heat pipe to maintain a final shape of the heat pipe.
2. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein curvature and shape of the flexible heat pipe is adjusted by a summary bending device or by manual.
3. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vaporization section and a condensation section of the heat pipe are not coated with the layer of plastic material for both sections to maintain their optimal heat transfer contact.
4. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the layer of the plastic material has Teflon, PU, PP, nylon, rubber, resin, or a plastic compound that delivers plasticity and elasticity at the same time.
5. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein, a method to coat the layer of the plastic material is applicable to a round or a flat heat pipe, and also applicable to a heat pipe which wick structure is groove, mesh, fiber, powder sintering or any combination of them without affecting the existing property of the heat pipe.
6. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein, a surface of the heat pipe is roughened by using a sandblasting, plating or any other chemical erosion method and is tightly coated with the plastic material by using injection molding, hot melting, cast polishing, and casting mold tools.
7. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein, a solidified adhesive or other adhesive paste is sprayed on the surface of the heat pipe to improve adhesion strength between the coated layer and the metallic body of the heat pipe.
8. The flexible heat pipe as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the heat pipe allows final shaping at a customer's end and is available in module to improve flexible application of the heat pipe.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 17, 2007
Publication Date: Mar 20, 2008
Inventor: Jian-Dih Jeng (Linkou Township)
Application Number: 11/856,679
International Classification: F28D 15/04 (20060101); F28F 13/18 (20060101);