U.S. patent application number 11/090146 was filed with the patent office on 2006-09-28 for wick structure of heat pipe.
This patent application is currently assigned to JAFFE LIMITED. Invention is credited to Hul-Chun Hsu.
Application Number | 20060213646 11/090146 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37034025 |
Filed Date | 2006-09-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060213646 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hsu; Hul-Chun |
September 28, 2006 |
Wick structure of heat pipe
Abstract
A wick structure is attached on an internal sidewall of a heat
pipe. The wick structure is a one-layer woven wick. At least one
weaving direction of the meshes of the woven wick contains a
plurality of fiber bundles each including two more woven fibers to
weave to a plurality of single fiber. As such, the fiber bundles of
the one-layer woven wick provide enhanced capillary force like a
multi-layer wick structure.
Inventors: |
Hsu; Hul-Chun; (Taichung
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HDSL
4331 STEVENS BATTLE LANE
FAIRFAX
VA
22033
US
|
Assignee: |
JAFFE LIMITED
|
Family ID: |
37034025 |
Appl. No.: |
11/090146 |
Filed: |
March 28, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.26 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 15/046
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/104.26 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/00 20060101
F28D015/00 |
Claims
1. A heat pipe comprising a tubular member and a wick structure
attached to an interior surface of the tubular member, wherein the
wick structure is a woven wick with meshes formed by a plurality of
fibers, at least one weaving direction of the meshes contains a
plurality of fiber bundles including two more weaving fibers each
to weave to a single fiber.
2. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the meshes of the fibers are
orthogonal.
3. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the fibers are made of
copper.
4. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the weaving fibers includes a
plurality of transversal fibers and a plurality of longitudinal
fibers.
5. The heat pipe of claim 4, wherein the longitudinal fibers are
formed in a plurality of fiber bundles.
6. The heat pipe of claim 4, wherein the transversal fiber and the
longitudinal fiber are in different size.
7. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein all the weaving fibers are
formed in a plurality of fiber bundles.
8. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the weaving fibers include at
least two kinds of sizes.
9. The heat pipe of claim 1, further comprising a support member
pressing the wick structure firmly attached to the tubular
member.
10. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a mesh
structure.
11. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a
spiral structure.
12. The heat pipe of claim 9, wherein the support member has a
plurality of holes formed thereon.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates in general to a wick structure
of a heat pipe, and more particularly, to a wick structure with
enhanced capillary action to a heat pipe.
[0002] There are lots of device used for transferring heat in the
industry. A heat pipe is widely in the form of a tube with one
closed end and one open end. A wick structure is installed in the
heat pipe and a working fluid is introduced into the heat pipe,
followed by the process of sealing the open end. When the heat pipe
is in contact with the electronic products, the heat absorbing end
absorbs the heat from the electronic products, such that a phase
transition from the liquid state to the gas state occurs to the
working fluid. After flowing to the cooling end of the heat pipe,
the gaseous working fluid is then condensed back to the liquid
state and re-flows back to the heat absorbing end by the capillary
effect provided by the wick structure. Therefore, the circulation
and phase transition of the working fluid irritated in the heat
pipe provides enhanced heat dissipation performance, such that the
electronic product can always operate under a uniform and working
temperature. Meanwhile, in order to enhance the capillary and
transporting abilities of the wick structure, a multi-layer wick
structure is used.
[0003] However, the multi-layer wick structure costs much more and
may have the problem being curled to put inside a tubular member of
the heat pipe. The curled wick structure may not reliably attach to
the interior surface of the tubular member and may collapse during
the sintering. Moreover, if the heat pipe is curved, due to each
layer of the wick structures is different, the multi-layer wick may
peel from each other.
[0004] Thus, there still is a need in the art to address the
aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention provides a wick structure of a heat
pipe. The wick structure is a one-layer woven wick. The meshes of
the woven wick are not formed in one-to-one fiber woven together.
In stead, at least one weaving direction of the meshes contains a
plurality of fiber bundles each including two more woven fibers to
weave to a plurality of single fiber. That is, if the meshes are
formed by a plurality of orthogonal transversal fibers and
longitudinal fibers, preferably, the fibers in the longitudinal
direction are formed in bundles each to weave to the single fiber
in the transversal direction. As such, the fiber bundles of the
one-layer woven wick can provide enhanced capillary force like a
multi-layer wick structure.
[0006] Accordingly, the heat pipe of the present invention includes
a tubular member and a wick structure attached to an interior
surface of the tubular member. The wick structure is a woven wick
with meshes formed by a plurality of fibers, at least one weaving
direction of the meshes contains a plurality of fiber bundles
including two more weaving fibers each to weave to a single
fiber.
[0007] These and other objectives of the present invention will
become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading
the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.
[0008] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general
description and the following detailed description are exemplary,
and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as
claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] These as well as other features of the present invention
will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings
therein:
[0010] FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a heat pipe;
[0011] FIG. 2 shows an expanded view of a wick structure of the
heat pipe according to the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of an A portion in FIG. 2;
[0013] FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of a heat pipe with the
wick structure provide by the present invention; and
[0014] FIG. 5 shows an enlarged view of an A portion in FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred
embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are
illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the
same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description
to refer to the same or like parts.
[0016] Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which respectively show an
exploded view of a heat pipe and an expanded view of a wick
structure according to the present invention. The heat pipe 1
includes a tubular member 10 with a wick structure 11 attached on
the internal sidewall thereof. The wick structure 11 is a one-layer
woven wick formed by orthogonal or non-orthogonal meshes. The
meshes includes a plurality of fiber bundle 110 and single fiber
111 as shown in FIG. 3. In the preferred embodiment, the meshes of
the woven wick 11 include a plurality of orthogonal longitudinal
fiber bundle 110 and a plurality of transversal single fibers 111.
The weaving fiber bundle 110 and single fiber 111 are preferably
made of metal material with higher thermal conductivity such as
using copper lines to form a copper net of the woven wick.
[0017] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the fiber bundle 110 includes two
more fibers 1100. In the preferred embodiment, due to the meshes
are orthogonal, the longitudinally weaving direction of the meshes
is formed by the fiber bundles 110. In other cases, any weaving
direction of the meshes can be formed by a plurality of fiber
bundles. As such, the fiber bundles including more weaving fiber of
the one-layer woven wick of the present can provide enhanced
capillary force like a multi-layer wick structure. Because of the
one-layer wick structure, the cost can be lowered. Moreover,
one-layer wick structure is easier to put into the heat pipe 1 to
be attached on the interior surface of the tubular member 10.
Meanwhile, when the heat pipe 1 is curved, because the wick
structure is as a whole an integral woven layer, no peeling will
occur as happened in case of the multi-layer wick structure.
[0018] Furthermore, the fiber bundle 110 can be formed by twisting
the fibers 1100 together. The sizes of the fiber 1100 and the
single fiber 111 can be different, and/or the sizes of the fiber
1100 themselves can be different also.
[0019] Finally, the heat pipe 1 further includes a support member
12 for pressing the wick structure firmly attached to the tubular
member 10, and/or providing extra capillary force to the heat pipe
1. The support member 12 can be formed by having a mesh structure,
a spiral structure and a plurality of holes formed thereon.
[0020] This disclosure provides exemplary embodiments of wick
structure of a heat pipe. The scope of this disclosure is not
limited by these exemplary embodiments. Numerous variations,
whether explicitly provided for by the specification or implied by
the specification, such as variations in shape, structure,
dimension, type of material or manufacturing process may be
implemented by one of skill in the art in view of this
disclosure.
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