Metal Mesh Protrusions Enhance Capillary Heat Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional metal meshes in heat spreaders lack sufficient capillary ability to effectively guide liquid and manage heat dissipation in modern electronic devices, leading to inefficient heat transfer and dissipation.
Innovation Solution
A metal mesh with intersecting metal wires and protrusions is developed, where the protrusions are formed on the outer surfaces of the wires, providing a nano-scale three-dimensional structure that enhances capillary ability without increasing mesh density or size, allowing for improved liquid guidance and heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional smooth metal mesh is used in heat spreader, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the capillary ability is insufficient to guide liquid effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional smooth mesh surface to a three-dimensional structured surface by adding protrusions and concave portions. This dimensional change increases the surface area and creates capillary channels that significantly enhance liquid guidance ability without fundamentally changing the mesh architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a porous-like structure with protrusions and concave portions on the metal mesh surface. This porous structure creates capillary forces that actively guide liquid flow, transforming the smooth non-porous surface into an active liquid transport medium.
2Reliability
If metal mesh with higher capillary ability is used, then liquid guidance improves, but the mesh structure becomes more complex and difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curved protrusions and concave portions instead of sharp angular features. These rounded geometries are more amenable to conventional manufacturing processes such as sintering, extrusion, or additive manufacturing, reducing fabrication difficulty while maintaining enhanced capillary functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes specific parameters of the protrusions (height, width, pitch) and concave portions to achieve the desired capillary effect. By carefully controlling these geometric parameters within certain ranges, the mesh maintains manufacturability while delivering improved liquid guidance performance.
3Reliability
If the working fluid amount is increased to prevent drying out, then heat dissipation reliability improves, but the internal space of the electronic device must be enlarged
Solution Approach 1:
The porous-like structure with protrusions and concave portions increases the effective surface area and capillary action, enabling more efficient liquid utilization. This allows the system to maintain reliable heat dissipation with less working fluid volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the surface morphology parameters of the metal mesh to enhance capillary wicking efficiency. This improved liquid transport efficiency allows the heat spreader to operate reliably with reduced working fluid inventory, minimizing the required internal volume.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The enhanced capillary ability of the metal mesh significantly improves heat dissipation efficiency by increasing the surface area and guiding liquid effectively, preventing fluid evaporation and maintaining heat transfer performance even under high heat conditions.
Implementation Method 1
By setting the capillary structure with capillary force, the working fluid condensed into a liquid state at a low temperature side can be quickly sucked back to a high temperature side by the capillary effect
Implementation Method 2
Through the evaporation and condensation of the working fluid, the heat of the heat source at the high temperature side is transferred to the low temperature side and then dissipated
Data Source
AI summary
A metal mesh includes a plurality of metal wires, a plurality of protrusions, and a plurality of concave portions. The metal wires, which are interlaced with each other to form a mesh, have an outer peripheral reference surface. Each protrusion is protruded from the outer peripheral reference surface of the metal wire. Each concave portion is concaved from the outer peripheral reference surface of the metal wire. Each protrusion is adjacent to at least one recess. Wherein bottom surfaces of the concave portion are non-planar.