U.S. patent application number 12/582328 was filed with the patent office on 2011-04-21 for heat pipe with a flexible structure.
Invention is credited to Chieh-Ping Chen, George Anthony. Meyer, IV, Chien-Hung Sun.
Application Number | 20110088874 12/582328 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43878403 |
Filed Date | 2011-04-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110088874 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Meyer, IV; George Anthony. ;
et al. |
April 21, 2011 |
HEAT PIPE WITH A FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE
Abstract
A heat pipe includes a metal pipe, a flexible structure, a woven
mesh, a working fluid, and a support element. The flexible
structure is formed on the metal pipe, and the woven mesh is
disposed inside the metal pipe, and the working fluid is filled
into the metal pipe and attached onto the woven mesh, and the
support element is passed into the woven mesh, such that the heat
pipe can be bent into a desired shape manually by an easy way
according to actual using requirements.
Inventors: |
Meyer, IV; George Anthony.;
(San Jose, CA) ; Sun; Chien-Hung; (Zhongli City,
TW) ; Chen; Chieh-Ping; (Zhongli City, TW) |
Family ID: |
43878403 |
Appl. No.: |
12/582328 |
Filed: |
October 20, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.26 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 15/046
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/104.26 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/04 20060101
F28D015/04 |
Claims
1. A heat pipe, comprising: a metal pipe; a flexible structure,
formed on the metal pipe, and comprised of a plurality of coils
having an interval apart from one another, and the center of the
coils being limited by the axis of the metal pipe; a woven mesh,
disposed inside the metal pipe, and having a plurality of
protruding rings formed at a position of the woven mesh
corresponding to the flexible structure and coupled to the coils; a
working fluid, filled into the interior of the metal pipe and
attached to the woven mesh; and a support element, passed into the
interior of the woven mesh, and abutted against the woven mesh, and
attached onto an internal wall of the metal pipe.
2. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the support element is a
spiral spring.
3. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the metal pipe is in a
circular shape.
4. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the metal pipe is made of
copper.
5. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the woven mesh is in a
cylindrical shape.
6. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the woven mesh is made of a
metal.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a heat dissipating device,
and more particularly to a flexible heat pipe.
[0003] 2. Description of Prior Art
[0004] As information industry develops rapidly, computer devices
usually come with an increasingly higher data processing speed, and
produce more heats from the electric resistance of electronic
components such as CPUs, IC components, power transistors, power
supply devices installed in the computer devices during the
operation of these electronic components, and thus the temperature
of components rises. In addition, as the integrated circuit
technology advances and becomes widely used, the electronic devices
tend to be developed with a light, thin, compact and high-frequency
high-speed design, so that the heat produced per unit area of the
densely installed components is increased. If the heat produced by
the electronic components is not dissipated properly and timely, a
high temperature will result and slow down the execution speed and
affect the system safety and performance adversely, and even worse,
the heat may damage hardware equipments. To suppress the rise of
temperature caused by an excessively large quantity of heat
produced during the operation of the electronic components, it is
necessary to dissipate the heat by a heat dissipating device. Among
various different heat dissipating devices, heat pipe with the
features of super silence, high-speed heat conduction, high thermal
conductivity, lightweight, compact size, free-of-mechanical parts,
and simple structure, is used extensively in the area of
dissipating heat of electronic devices.
[0005] The structure of a conventional heat pipe is a sealed vacuum
pipe including a capillary tissue on an internal wall of the pipe,
a vapor channel in the middle of the pipe, and a working fluid
filled into the vacuum pipe and having a volume equal to the total
volume of crevices of the capillary tissue, wherein the working
liquid is water, ethanol, acetone or any liquid with the features
of a high heat of vaporization, a good mobility, stable chemical
properties and a low boiling point. The heat pipe can be divided
into an evaporating section and a condensing section according to
its functions of absorbing and dispersing heat. If the evaporating
section is heated, the working liquid in the capillary tissue will
absorb heat and thus the temperature will rise. When the
temperature rises to an evaporation point, the temperature will
remain at the evaporation point, and the evaporating section will
still continue absorbing a large quantity of heat to vaporize the
liquid. The vapor under a slight pressure different passes through
the channel in the pipe quickly, until the vapor is cooled to a
condensation point when it reaches the condensing section. Now, the
temperature remains at the condensation point, and a large quantity
of heat is discharged, and the heat is conducted through the heat
pipe and dissipated to the outside, such that the vapor can be
condensed into a liquid to be entered into the capillary tissues,
and the liquid in the capillary tissues flows back to the
evaporating section by the capillary action to continue
transmitting heat by a heat circulation caused by a phase change of
the working liquid.
[0006] The conventional heat pipe is generally manufactured into a
cylindrical shape for thermally coupling a heat generating source
and a heat dissipating body in order to transmit the heat produced
by the heat generating source to the heat dissipating body for heat
dissipation. Since the heat generating source and the heat
dissipating body are disposed at different positions, and there are
other devices installed in a path between the heat generating
source and the heat dissipating, therefore the heat pipe must be
bent into a required curvature to fit different using conditions in
order to avoid other devices or to achieve a connection. However, a
mechanical tool is required for bending the heat pipe into the
cylindrical shape, and it is common to have discrepancy or even
error of the curvature of the heat pipe. As a result, it is
necessary to adjust the curvature of the heat pipe by the
mechanical tool in an installation. Obviously, the conventional
heat pipe wastes time and labor cost for its installation and
requires further improvements.
[0007] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor
of the present invention based on years of experience in the
related field to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and
finally developed a flexible heat pipe in accordance with the
present invention and provide a feasible effective solution to
overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present
invention to provide a flexible heat pipe that can be bent into a
desired shape manually in an easy way according to actual using
requirements,
[0009] To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention
provides a heat pipe having a flexible structure and capable of
being bent into a desired shape manually in an easy way according
to actual using requirements.
[0010] To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention
provides a heat pipe comprising:
[0011] a metal pipe;
[0012] a flexible structure, formed on the metal pipe, and
comprised of a plurality of coils with an interval apart from one
another, and the center of the coils being limited by the axis of
the metal pipe;
[0013] a woven mesh, disposed inside the metal pipe, and having a
plurality of protruding rings formed at a position of the woven
mesh corresponding to the flexible structure and coupled to the
coils;
[0014] a working fluid, filled inside the metal pipe and attached
onto the woven mesh; and
[0015] a support element, passed into the interior of the woven
mesh, abutted against the woven mesh, and attached onto an internal
wall of the metal pipe.
[0016] The present invention is characterized in that the flexible
structure is formed on the metal pipe, such that the heat pipe can
be bent directly and manually according to the actual installation
conditions without requiring any tool, and thus facilitating the
installation and saving time. In addition, the woven mesh and the
support element can be bent together with the heat pipe without a
risk of being broken, such that the woven mesh can be maintained in
contact with the internal wall of the metal pipe to allow the
working fluid to flow smoothly in the woven mesh and to maintain a
good heat dissipating effect.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 is an axial cross-sectional view of a metal pipe of
the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 4 is an axial cross-sectional view of the present
invention; and
[0021] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an operating status of
the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0022] The technical characteristics, features and advantages of
the present invention will become apparent in the following
detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to
the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided for reference
and illustration only, but not intended for limiting the present
invention.
[0023] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 for a perspective view of the
present invention, an axial cross-sectional view of a metal pipe of
the present invention, an exploded view of the present invention,
and an axial cross-sectional view of a heat pipe having a flexible
structure in accordance with the present invention respectively,
the heat pipe comprises a metal pipe 10, a flexible structure 20, a
woven mesh 30, a working fluid 40, and a support element 50.
[0024] The metal pipe 10 is in a cylindrical shape, but the
invention is not limited to such shape only. The metal pipe 10 is
made of a good conducting material such as copper and silver, but
the invention is not limited to such metals only. The interior of
the metal pipe 10 is hollow for accommodating other devices to
enhance the thermal conductive effect.
[0025] The flexible structure 20 is formed on the metal pipe 10 and
comprised of a plurality of coils 21 installed alternately with one
another, and the center of the coils 21 is limited by the axis of
the metal pipe 10. The coil 21 is made of a good thermal conductive
material and formed on the metal pipe 10, and the center of the
coil 21 is limited by the axis of the metal pipe 10, and the
external peripheral wall of the external the coil 21 is protruded
with respect to the external peripheral wall of the metal pipe 10,
and the internal peripheral wall of the coil 21 is sunken with
respect to the internal peripheral wall of the metal pipe 10.
[0026] The woven mesh 30 is disposed inside the metal pipe 10 and
attached onto the internal wall of the metal pipe 10, and the woven
mesh 30 is made of a material having a good thermal conductivity
such as a metal, but the invention is not limited to such material
only. The woven mesh 30 includes a plurality of crevices for
producing a capillary effect. The woven mesh 30 is in a cylindrical
shape, but the invention is not limited to such shape only, and any
shape matched with the shape of the internal wall of the metal pipe
10 can be used for the invention, and the woven mesh 30 includes a
plurality of protruding rings 31 formed at positions corresponding
to the flexible structure 20 and attached to the coils 21
respectively, wherein the external peripheral wall of the
protruding ring 31 has a shape corresponding to the shape of the
internal peripheral wall of the coil 21, such that the protruding
rings 31 of the woven mesh 30 can be attached to the coils 21 of
the flexible structure 20.
[0027] The working fluid 40 is filled into the metal pipe 10 and
attached onto the woven mesh 30, wherein the working fluid 40 is a
liquid with features of a high heat of vaporization, a good
mobility, stable chemical properties and a low boiling point such
as water, ethanol or acetone, etc, but the invention is not limited
to these liquids only. The working fluid 40 is permeated into a
plurality of crevices of the woven mesh 30. By the capillary
action, the working fluid 40 can flow to achieve the transmission
of heat by means of a phase change of the working fluid 40.
[0028] The support element 50 is passed into the woven mesh 30,
abutted against the woven mesh 30 and attached onto an internal
wall of the metal pipe 10, and the support element 50 is made of a
material with a strong structural strength, a high flexibility and
bendable elasticity, and the shape of the support element 50 is
matched with the shape of the interior of the woven mesh 30, and
the external peripheral wall of the support element 50 is attached
onto the internal peripheral wall of the woven mesh 30 for
supporting the woven mesh 30, and the support element 50 does not
occupy the whole internal space of the metal pipe 10, and the
external peripheral wall of the support element 50 is not covered
completely by the internal peripheral wall of the woven mesh 30,
wherein the support element 50 of this preferred embodiment is a
spiral spring, but the present invention is not limited to such
device only.
[0029] With reference to FIG. 5 for a cross-sectional view of an
operating status of the present invention, the heat pipe can be
bent manually in an easy way without requiring a tool, when it is
necessary to bend the heat pipe to facilitate the installation. The
coils 21 of the flexible structure 20 are put together with each
other on one side and apart from each other on the other side, such
that the heat pipe having a flexible structure can be bent easily.
The pipe wall will not be sunken due to an excessive bending on any
part of heat pipe. The woven mesh 30 can be attached onto the
internal peripheral wall of he metal pipe 10 and the heat pipe
having a flexible structure can be bent together with the woven
mesh 30 to fit different bending angles, and will not break due to
the bending, so as to prevent the flow of the working fluid 40 from
being interrupted or blocked, and the protruding rings 31 remain
attached with the coils 21 anytime to maintain the good heat
dissipating effect. Further, when the heat pipe having a flexible
structure is bent, the support element 50 is bent accordingly to
maintain the status of supporting the woven mesh 30, since the
support element 50 is a spiral spring. The vapor formed by the
vaporization of the working fluid 40 escapes from the crevices of
the woven mesh 30 and passes through the gaps between the spring
into the metal pipe 10, and the vapor can flow in the spring
without being blocked.
[0030] The present invention is illustrated with reference to the
preferred embodiment and not intended to limit the patent scope of
the present invention. Various substitutions and modifications have
suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to
those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such
substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within
the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *