HEAT PIPE WITH FLAT END AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME
The invention is to provide a method for making a heat pipe with a flat end. The method comprises the steps of (a) providing a first tube, including a first open end and a second open end; (b) providing a second tube, including a third open end and a flat closed end; (c) seal jointing the second open end of the first tube and the third open end of the second tube to form a third tube; (d) forming a porous capillary diversion layer on the inner wall of the third tube; (e) injecting a working fluid into the third tube; (f) vacuuming the third tube, and (g) sealing the first open end.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a heat pipe and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, the heat pipe has a flat end so that an electrical device can be smoothly connected onto the flat end of the heat pipe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the development of technology, many electronic products face the problem of heat-dissipating. For example, a lot of heat is generated when the central processing unit of a computer is operated. If the heat is not removed, the operation of the entire system will be impacted. Therefore, the heat pipe plays an important role in the heat-dissipating of the central processing unit in the computer.
The well-known method of manufacturing a sintering heat pipe is to seal one end of a metal tube in a high temperature fusing way. Then, a metal rod is put in the tube and a metal powder is infilled in the tube. After the sintering process, the metal rod is removed and then the heat pipe is done. Please refer to
Therefore, the main aim of the invention is to provide a heat pipe and manufacturing method thereof. Herewith an electrical device can be smoothly connected onto the flat end of the heat pipe.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn order to achieve the above-mentioned aim and solve the above-mentioned drawback, the invention provides a heat pipe and manufacturing method thereof. Herewith an electrical device can be smoothly connected onto the flat end of the heat pipe.
The heat pipe according to the invention comprises a first tube and a second tube. The first tube has a first end and a second end; the second tube has a third end and the flat end. The first tube can be a hollow metal tube, and the first end and the second end are both open. The third end of the second tube and the second end of the first tube are sealed and connected so that a third tube is formed by the first tube and the second tube. The sealing process can a soldering process, a welding process, a mechanical buckling process, or an agglutinating process. In addition, the second tube can be made by a powder metallurgy process, a punching process, an injection molding process, a casting process, or a machining process. The flat end can be in a flat form or in a concave form. It depends on the practical application.
According to the invention, a multi-hole capillary conducting layer is formed on the inner wall of the third tube. A working fluid is injected into the third tube from the first end of the first tube and the heat pipe is formed by sealing. Before the sealing, the heat pipe must be vacuumed to let the inside of the heat pipe reach a necessary vacuum so that the working fluid can work normally.
In addition, the multi-hole capillary conducting layer can be made by the following methods, but not limited by these methods. In the first method, a first metal powder is put into the third tube (at this time, the first end of the first tube is not sealed yet). Then, a center bar is inserted into the third tube from the first end and the center bar is against the first metal powder and a second metal powder is infilled between the center bar and the third tube. Afterward, a sintering process is performed to weld the first metal powder and the second metal powder to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer. At last, the center bar is drawn out from the third tube. By the way, the first metal powder can be replaced by a sintered metal powder layer.
In the second method, a plurality of fine notches is on the inner wall of the third tube. The procedures of the second method are as follows. At first, a metal powder is put into the third tube (at this time, the first end of the first tube is not sealed yet). Then, a center bar is inserted into the third tube from the first end and the center bar is against the metal powder. Afterward, a sintering process is performed to weld the metal powder and the plurality of fine notches to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer. At last, the center bar is drawn out from the third tube.
The third method is to make a plurality of fine notches on the inner wall of the third tube by a machining process to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
The fourth method is to sinter a plurality of metal particles on the inner wall of the third tube. And then a metal mesh is set upon the plurality of metal particles to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
The fifth method is to lay an undulant metal cloth upon the inner wall of the third tube. And then a smooth metal mesh cloth layer is set upon the undulant metal cloth to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
The first metal powder and the second metal powder in the first method and the metal powder in the second method can be a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, a silver-plated powder, or any other similar metal powder. Besides, the first tube and the second tube can be made of a copper, a nickel, a silver, or any other similar metal.
In addition, if a plurality of fine notches are formed upon both of the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube, the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is formed by the fine notches of the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube after the first tube and the second tube are sealed. Any further process is not necessary. And, the inner wall of the flat end of the heat pipe is not necessary to comprise the multi-hole capillary conducting layer. Therefore, in the above-mentioned condition, the inner wall of the flat end of the second tube is not limited by the plurality of fine notches.
To sum up, the heat pipe according to the invention has a flat end so that an electrical device can be smoothly connected onto the flat end of the heat pipe. More specifically, a multi-hole capillary conducting layer can be set upon the inner wall of the flat end of the heat pipe to let the working fluid circulate more smoothly and make the heat-dissipating effect of the electrical device better.
The advantage and spirit of the invention may be further understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the manufacturing method of a heat pipe 1 provides a first tube 12 and the first tube 12 is a hollow metal tube, as shown in
It should be noticed that if the second tube 14 is made by a punching process, then
Then, the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 are sealed to form a third tube 16, as shown in
In an embodiment, the sealing process is a soldering process. A “V” shape groove can be reserved in advance at the sealing point between the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14. The groove can be used for infilling the solder S so that the solder S will not protrude the surface of the third tube 16 too much, as shown in
In an embodiment, the sealing process is a welding process. The sealing point of the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 is in a sawtooth form so that the second open end 124 and the third open end 142 can be further fused, as shown in
In another embodiment, the second open end 124 and the third open end 142 both have a relative protrusion 1242 and 1422 for keep the sealing point continually smooth after the welding process, as shown in
In an embodiment, the sealing process is a mechanical buckling process. The second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and the third open end of the second tube 14 are spirally connected, as shown in
In practical applications, the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 can comprise a female screw, and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 can comprise a male screw correspondingly. The screws generation step can be incorporated into the manufacturing process of the first tube 12 and the second tube 14. In another embodiment, the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 are connected by wedging, as shown in
In an embodiment, the sealing process is an agglutinating process. A viscose is spread on the sealing point between the second open end 124 of the first tube and the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 to agglutinate them. The shape of the connecting surface of the second open end 124 and the third open end 142 is not necessary to be a plane. In general, the moderate irregular form will be helpful to enhance the agglutinating effect. The agglutinating process can be also combined with the above-mentioned processes. For example, in the spiral connection process and the wedging process, the viscose can infiltrate the sealing gap to reach the effect of sealing and enhancing the sealing strength.
In the above-mentioned embodiments, the first tube 12 and the second tube 14 can be made of a copper, a nickel, a silver, or any other similar metal materials. And, the first tube 12 and the second tube 14 are not necessary to be made of the same material.
In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the cross-section of the second open end 124 of the first tube 12 and that of the third open end 142 of the second tube 14 are the same. However, in an embodiment, the outer diameter of the first tube 12′ equals or is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the second tube 14′ so that the first tube 12′ can be inserted into the second tube 14′ to form the third tube 16′, as shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, after the first tube 12 and the second tube 14 are sealed, the heat pipe manufacturing method according to the invention forms a multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164 upon the inner wall of the third tube 16. Please refer to
In the first method, a first metal powder P1 is firstly put into the third tube 16, as shown in
In the second method, the inner wall of the third tube 16 already has a plurality of fine notches 166. At first, a metal powder P3 is put into the third tube 16, and then a center bar 2′ is inserted into the third tube 16 and the center bar 2′ is against the metal powder P3, as shown in
In the third method, a machining process is directly used to make a plurality of fine notches 166′ on the inner wall of the third tube 16 to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164, as shown in
In the fourth method, a plurality of metal particles 168 are sintered on the inner wall of the third tube 16 to form a metal particle layer. Then, a metal mesh 170 is set on the plurality of metal particles 168 (namely the metal particle layer) to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164, as shown in
In the fifth method, an undulant metal cloth 172 is laid upon the inner wall of the third tube 16 at first. Then, a smooth metal mesh cloth layer 174 is set upon the undulant metal cloth 172 to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164, as shown in
In the above-mentioned methods, the first metal powder P1 and the second metal powder P2 in the first method and the metal powder P3 in the second method can be a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, a silver-plated powder, or any other similar metal powder. Similarly, the metal powder used in the sintered metal powder layer in the first method can also be one of the above-mentioned powders or a mixed powder.
In addition, if a plurality of fine notches are formed upon both of the inner wall of the first tube 12 and the inner wall of the second tube 14, the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164 is formed by the fine notches of the inner wall of the first tube 12 and the inner wall of the second tube 14 after the first tube 12 and the second tube 14 are sealed. Any further process is not necessary to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164. And, the inner wall of the flat end 144 of the heat pipe 1 according to the invention is not necessary to comprise the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164. Therefore, in the above-mentioned case, the inner wall of the flat end 144 of the second tube 14 is not limited to have the plurality of fine notches.
According to the preferred embodiment, after the multi-hole capillary conducting layer 164 is formed on the inner wall of the third tube 16, a working fluid L is injected into the third tube 16 by the method of manufacturing the heat pipe 1 according to the invention. The method can use a fine tube 3 to inject the working fluid L (as shown in
Please refer to
The electrical device which is connected onto the flat end 144 of the heat pipe 1 according to the invention can be a light emitting diode (LED), a laser diode (LD), or an integrated circuit (IC).
In conclusion, the heat pipe according to the invention has a flat end, and a multi-hole capillary conducting layer set on the inner wall of the flat end so that the working fluid can be smoothly circulated. Therefore, an electrical device can be smoothly connected onto the flat end of the heat pipe to achieve good heat-dissipating effect.
With the recitations of the preferred embodiment above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. However, the scope of the invention is not restricted by the preferred embodiment disclosed above. The objective is that all alternative and equivalent arrangements are hopefully covered in the scope of the appended claims of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method for making a heat pipe with a flat end, the method comprising the steps of: wherein an inner wall of the third tube comprises a multi-hole capillary conducting layer and the third tube contains a working fluid.
- (a) providing a first tube having a first open end and a second open end;
- (b) providing a second tube having a third open end and the flat end;
- (c) sealing the second open end and the third open end to form a third tube;
- (d) vacuuming the third tube; and
- (e) sealing the first open end;
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the working fluid is injected into the third tube before or after the step (d) is performed.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein in the step (b), the second tube is made by a powder metallurgy process, a punching process, an injection molding process, a casting process, or a machining process.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the steps of:
- putting a first metal powder into the third tube;
- inserting a center bar into the third tube from the first open end and the center bar being against the first metal powder;
- infilling a second metal powder between the center bar and the third tube;
- performing a sintering process for welding the first metal powder and the second metal powder to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer; and
- drawing out the center bar from the third tube.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first metal powder/the second metal powder is a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, or a silver-plated powder.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the steps of:
- putting a sintered metal powder layer into the third tube;
- inserting a center bar into the third tube from the first open end and the center bar being against the sintered metal powder layer;
- infilling a metal powder between the center bar and the third tube;
- performing a sintering process for welding the sintered metal powder layer and the metal powder to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer; and
- drawing out the center bar from the third tube.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the inner wall of the third tube comprises a plurality of fine notches, and the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the steps of:
- putting a metal powder into the third tube;
- inserting a center bar into the third tube from the first open end and the center bar being against the metal powder;
- performing a sintering process for welding the metal powder and the plurality of fine notches to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer; and
- drawing out the center bar from the third tube.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the metal powder is a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, or a silver-plated powder.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the step of:
- making a plurality of fine notches on the inner wall of the third tube via a machining process to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the steps of:
- sintering a plurality of metal particles upon the inner wall of the third tube; and
- setting a metal mesh upon the plurality of metal particles to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by the steps of:
- laying an undulant metal cloth upon the inner wall of the third tube; and
- setting a smooth metal mesh cloth layer upon the undulant metal cloth to form the multi-hole capillary conducting layer.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the undulant metal cloth has undulance in a shape of a triangle, a rectangle, a trapezoid, or a wave.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein in step (c), the second open end and the third open end are sealed by a soldering process, a welding process, a mechanical buckling process, or an agglutinating process.
14. A heat pipe with a flat end, comprising: wherein a sealed space is formed by the first tube and the second tube, and the sealed space contains a working fluid.
- a first tube having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is sealed;
- a second tube having a third end and the flat end, wherein the third end and the second end are sealed by soldering, welding, mechanical buckling, or agglutinating; and
- a multi-hole capillary conducting layer formed on an inner wall of the first tube or an inner wall of the second tube;
15. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the second tube is made by a powder metallurgy process, a punching process, an injection molding process, a casting process, or a machining process.
16. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the flat end of the second tube is in a flat form or in a concave form.
17. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the first tube/the second tube is made of a copper, a nickel, or a silver.
18. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer is made by sintering a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, or a silver-plated powder.
19. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer comprises a metal particle layer and a metal mesh, the metal particle layer is sintered upon the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube, and the metal mesh is set upon the metal particle layer.
20. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer comprises an undulant metal cloth and a smooth metal mesh cloth layer, the undulant metal cloth is laid upon the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube, and the smooth metal mesh cloth layer is set upon the undulant metal cloth.
21. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer comprises a plurality of fine notches formed upon the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube via a machining process.
22. The heat pipe of claim 14, wherein the multi-hole capillary conducting layer comprises a plurality of fine notches and a metal sintering layer, the plurality of fine notches are formed upon the inner wall of the first tube and the inner wall of the second tube, and the metal sintering layer is formed upon the inner wall of the second tube and welded with the plurality of fine notches.
23. The method of claim 7, wherein the metal powder is a copper powder, a nickel powder, a silver powder, a copper-plated powder, a nickel-plated powder, or a silver-plated powder.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 19, 2007
Publication Date: Feb 11, 2010
Inventor: Jen-Shyan Chen (Taiwan)
Application Number: 12/521,932
International Classification: F28D 15/04 (20060101); B21D 53/02 (20060101);