Modified heat pipe for phase change cooling of electronic devices

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments provide a heat pipe including a flexible chamber that is capable of expanding, compressing and/or restoring. In one embodiment, the heat pipe can include a hollow metal casing including a pipe structure connected to an expandable chamber at one end of the pipe structure. The other end of the pipe structure can include an evaporating section for receiving heat and the expandable chamber can include a condensing section for releasing the heat. The expandable chamber can be configured to change in volume to control one or both of a temperature and a pressure in the hollow metal casing. The heat pipe can also include a capillary system arranged at an inner surface of the hollow metal casing that includes the pipe structure and the expandable chamber.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]This invention generally relates to heat transfer components and, more particularly, to heat pipes that include an expandable chamber.[0003]2. Background of the Invention[0004]The power density of components used in portable electronics such as cellphones, MP3 players and global positioning systems (GPSs) is increasing as more features are added to the equipment and with the advent of new package technologies such as stacked die, stacked packages, and through-silicon vias (TSV) packages. Additionally, new battery technologies have increased the power capacity, e.g., by about 10% per year. Due to these reasons, the operating temperature of portable electronic devices has increased dramatically. However, due to battery life concerns, these portable electronic devices do not use miniature fans and heat sinks.[0005]Conventional methods to release the increased heat generated by these devices include the use of heat spreade...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]In this manner, the inventive heat pipe can provide an increased cooling capacity by allowing a higher volume of working fluid, the water. The expanding chamber can act to maintain a lower pressure as the water boils while at the same time can perform the function of a heat sink to re-condense the water. Conventional heat pipes allow only minimal change in volume and have fixed physical dimensions that are dependent on only the thermal expansion constants of the materials. As a result, large volume of working fluids, such as water, cannot be used to absorb excess he...

Problems solved by technology

Conventional cooling devices, such as heat spreaders, have low cooling capacity.

Conventional heat pipes use low volumes of phase chan...

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