Vapor Chamber Wick Structure with Integral Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vapor chambers used in mobile devices face challenges in reducing thickness while maintaining strength to resist bending and point loading, as existing designs often result in increased thickness due to porous bodies and are prone to breakage under mechanical stress.
Innovation Solution
A vapor chamber design featuring a housing with opposing sheets, a working liquid, and a wick structure with integral column-like protruding portions and a grid portion, where the top surfaces of both are on the same flat plane, enhancing strength and reducing thickness, and a manufacturing method involving metal plating and patterning to form the wick structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a porous body is disposed on a wick structure to strengthen it, then the strength against bending or point loading is improved, but the thickness of the vapor chamber increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wick structure is formed as an integral unit where the grid portion and protruding portions are merged into a single piece. This integration eliminates the need for separate porous bodies while maintaining structural strength, as the protruding portions themselves provide the necessary mechanical reinforcement without adding extra thickness layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The wick structure utilizes three-dimensional protruding portions that extend from the grid portion. This dimensional approach allows the structure to gain strength through vertical protrusions rather than adding horizontal layers, thereby improving mechanical strength without proportionally increasing the overall thickness of the vapor chamber.
2Length of stationary object
If the thickness of the vapor chamber is reduced, then the suitability for mobile terminals is improved, but the strength sufficient to prevent the wick portion from breaking is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The wick structure features localized protruding portions that concentrate structural reinforcement only where needed. These protrusions are strategically positioned to provide local strength enhancement against bending and point loading, allowing the overall chamber thickness to be reduced while maintaining sufficient strength at critical locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The wick structure functions as a composite architecture combining a flat grid portion with vertical protruding portions. This composite design creates a multi-level structure that achieves high strength-to-thickness ratio, enabling the vapor chamber to be thinner while the protruding portions provide the necessary mechanical strength to prevent breakage under load.
3Power
If a wick structure with porous body is used, then the heat transport capacity is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wick structure combines the grid portion and protruding portions into a single integrated component, eliminating the need for separate porous body assemblies. This merger simplifies the overall device structure while maintaining the heat transport functionality through the unified wick architecture that facilitates liquid working fluid movement.
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 design achieves a reduced thickness vapor chamber with enhanced strength against bending and point loading, improving heat transport and thermal diffusion capacities, suitable for compact electronic devices.
Implementation Method 1
a wick structure on an inside surface of the first sheet or the second sheet... the wick structure includes multiple protruding portions and a grid portion integral with the protruding portions
Implementation Method 2
a working liquid enclosed within the housing... vapor chamber as a whole exhibits an apparent thermal conductivity several times to several tens of times higher than that of a metal
Data Source
AI summary
A vapor chamber that includes a housing having a first sheet and a second sheet that oppose each other and that are joined to each other in a peripheral region of the housing; a working liquid enclosed within the housing; and a wick structure on an inside surface of the first sheet or the second sheet. In the vapor chamber, the wick structure includes multiple protruding portions and a grid portion integral with the protruding portions. In addition, surfaces of the protruding portions and a surface of the grid portion opposite the inside surface of the first sheet or the second sheet are positioned on a same flat surface.