Self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe

Abstract

A self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe includes a heating unit having a wick therein; a cooling unit filled with a working fluid; a connection channel which rectilinearly connects the heating unit with the cooling unit, and has a smaller channel cross-sectional area than the channel cross-sectional area of the heating unit; a liquid plug protruding into the connection channel from the cooling unit and containing the working fluid; and a vapor plug in the heating unit containing the vaporized working fluid. The liquid plug oscillates self-excitedly in the connection channel.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe.[0002]Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-029713 filed on Feb. 8, 2008, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND ART[0003]In recent years, with miniaturization and high integration of electronic devices, the heat generation density of semiconductor elements has been rapidly increasing, and establishment of an efficient heat removal technique has become imperative. However, for example, when miniaturization of electronic apparatuses, such as a notebook-type personal computer, is carried out, for example, it becomes impossible to secure the space for a large-sized heat sink to be installed right above the central processing unit (CPU), which is a heat source. In such a case, it is necessary to transport generated heat to a location where the heat sink can be installed. For this reason, a wick-type heat pipe is utilized as a heat transport m...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention relates to a self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe that can efficiently remove heat from electronic devices with high heat generation density. The heat pipe is designed to have high heat transport performance even when installed horizontally, without the need for a large heat sink. The invention solves the problem of a decline in heat transport performance when the heat pipe is made smaller in diameter. The heat pipe includes a heating unit with a wick, a cooling unit filled with a working fluid, a connection channel with a smaller cross-sectional area than the heating unit, and a liquid plug and vapor plug within the heating unit and cooling unit, respectively. The invention provides a self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe that can exhibit high heat transport performance even without making the tube meander."

Problems solved by technology

However, for example, when miniaturization of electronic apparatuses, such as a notebook-type personal computer, is carried out, for example, it becomes impossible to secure the space for a large-sized heat sink to be installed right above the central processing unit (CPU), which is a heat source.

In such a heat pipe, the maximum heat transport rate in a case where the heat pipe has an outside diameter of about 3 mm, and is installed horizontally is about 12 W. However, the wick-type heat pipe has a problem that heat transport performance significantly decline, when the tube diameter is decreased (made small).

However, in a meandering loop-type self-excited oscillating flow heat pipe (inside diameter of about 0.5 mm to 2 mm), which is a representative example of the above heat pipe, there are problems in that it is necessary to make a number of tubes meander, and operation of the heat pipe is difficult when horizontally installed (refer to Nonpatent Document 1).

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