Heat Pipe with Advanced Capillary Structure
A heat pipe has a wick of capillary structure formed on the inner wall of the heat pipe so as to form a working fluid path in the heat pipe, wherein the wick of the capillary structure is un-ringlike or various radially. The cross-section of the working fluid path in the heat pipe is in various shapes, such as in a shape of polygon, poly-petal, poly-serration, arc or semicircle. Thus, the thickness of the capillary wick structure on the inner wall of the heat pipe is various due to the shape of the working fluid path.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat pipe with a capillary structure, and in particular, relates to a heat pipe with a wick of a capillary structure at the inner wall of the pipe, in which the thickness of the wick is un-ringlike or various radially.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional method for manufacturing a heat pipe comprises the steps of positioning a mandrel in a tube, filling metal powder into the space between the mandrel and inner wall of the tube, sintering the metal powder and removing out the mandrel. A heat pipe 10 with a capillary structure is thus formed with a concentric and ringlike wick 16, as shown in
Therefore, a heat pipe is demanded, in which the damage to the capillary wick of a heat pipe is limited during the manufacturing processes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is to provide a heat pipe with a wick of capillary structure, in which the thickness of the capillary wick structure is various radially. The cross-sectional of working fluid path in the heat pipe is in various shapes, such as in a shape of polygon, poly-petal, poly-serration, arc, or semicircle. Thus, the thickness of the capillary wick structure on the inner wall of the heat pipe is various due to the shape of the working fluid path.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the capillary wick structure is at part of the axial semicircle or arc of the heat pipe. In another one embodiment of present invention, the working fluid path of the present heat pipe is a combination of sections with different radius, such as two sections respectively with different radius.
A reinforced layer, such as mesh, fibers, a porous material, is provided to be formed at the inner wall of the heat pipe to incorporate into the capillary wick structure for reinforcing the capillary wick structure and enhancing the capillary transferring function thereof.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description in conjunction with the examples and references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present invention is to provide a heat pipe 20 with a capillary wick structure 26. Referring to
As shown in
A heat pipe 40 with an octagonal working fluid path 44, as shown in
As described above, the non-circle mandrel is provided to form a capillary wick with different thickness radially. The different thickness of wicks is provided to meet the different requirements in different application of the present heat pipes. However, when a heat pipe is pressed for forming a specific shape, the capillary wick is stressed and thus is damaged. To minimize this possible defect to the capillary wick, the present invention is to provide a reinforced capillary structure, as shown in
For a various requirements of heat pipes, the mandrel can be in various shapes, such as described above, in rectangular, penta-petalous, octagonal and the likes. Optionally, the mandrel is able to be a combination of sections with different radius, as shown in
In general, heat pipes contact a heat source at one side only. Thus, the capillary wick structure can be sintered at one side of the tube for meeting the high heat transfer efficiency request. As shown in
Referring to
In another one embodiment of the present invention, a capillary structure of a heat pipe 100 is manufactured as an axially various thickness. As shown in
Accordingly, the present invention provides a novel mandrel for using in the sintering of the capillary structure of a heat pipe. Due to the various shape of the mandrel, the capillary wick sintering thereby is in various thicknesses. Thus, the pressing damage to the capillary structure will be minimized
As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended that various modifications and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Claims
1. A heat pipe with a wick of capillary structure, in which a capillary structure is formed on the inner wall of the heat pipe so as to form a working fluid path, wherein of the capillary wick structure is un-ringlike or various radially.
2. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional of working fluid path in the heat pipe is a shape of polygon.
3. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional of working fluid path in the heat pipe is a shape of poly-petal.
4. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional of working fluid path in the heat pipe is a shape of poly-serration.
5. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the capillary wick structure is formed at the part of the semicircle, or arc of the heat pipe, or gradually increases the thickness of wick, or increases by step.
6. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the working fluid path of the present heat pipe is a combination of sections with different radius, such as two sections respectively, or multi-sections with different radius.
7. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein a reinforced layer is provided to be formed at the inner wall of the heat pipe to incorporate into the capillary wick structure for reinforcing the capillary wick structure and enhancing the capillary transfer function thereof.
8. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 7, wherein a reinforced layer is a mesh layer.
9. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein a reinforced layer is fibers.
10. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein a reinforced layer is a porous material.
11. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein a reinforced layer is a plurality of slots on the inner wall of the heat pipe.
12. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat pipe is further pressed in to a flat tube.
13. The heat pipe as claimed in claim 1, wherein heat pipe is further bended into a continuous U-shape tube.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 17, 2006
Publication Date: Jun 19, 2008
Inventor: Jian-Dih Jeng (Linkou Township)
Application Number: 11/611,885
International Classification: F28D 15/02 (20060101);