What is Heat Pipe?

A heat pipe is a simple device that can quickly transfer heat from one point to another, which is usually used for cooling an electronic component in air-conditioners, refrigerators, heat exchangers, transistors, capacitors, etc. Heat pipes are also used in laptops to reduce the working temperature for better efficiency.


A efficient heat pipe system can be affected by length of a heat pipe, type of fluid in a heat pipe, return wick type, and the number of bends in a heat pipe. Its small, compact profile, light weight, and cost effective heat pipe solution allow it to meet the demanding requirements of laptops.

Heat Pipe Structure:

A heat pipe is consisting of following three basic components:
1. container
2. the wick or capillary.
3. the working fluid

First, the container is a sealed, hollow tube, which can isolate the working fluid from the outside environment and can maintain the pressure differential across its walls, and enable transfer of heat to take place from and into the working fluid.

Inside walls of the container are lined with a porous structure, which is called capillary structure or wick. The prime purpose of the wick is to generate capillary pressure to transport the working fluid from the condenser to the evaporator.

Finally, the working fluid is contained in wick structured container. The first consideration of choosing a suitable working fluid is the operating vapor temperature range. Most pipes use water and methanol/alcohol as working fluid.

How do Heat Pipes Operate:

One end of the heat pipe attached to the heat source. As the heat rising to the desired operating temperature, the tube boils the working fluid and turns it into a vapor. As the evaporating fluid fills the hollow center of the wick, it spreads throughout the heat pipe toward to the other cold end. Condensation of the vapor occurs wherever the temperature is even slightly below that of the evaporation area. As it condenses, the vapor gives up the heat it acquired during evaporation and the condensed working fluid is then sucked back to the evaporating section along the wick structure. This thermodynamic cycle continues and helps maintain constant temperatures.

Attaching a heat sink to a portion of the heat pipe makes condensation take place at this point of heat loss and establishes a vapor flow pattern. Capillary action within the wick returns the condensate to the evaporator (heat source) and completes the operating cycle.


Features :

Provide high thermal conductivity with small temperature difference
Fast thermal response
Small size and light weight
Large variety of shapes
No electrical power supply required, and maintenance free
Reduce overall system size and costs