U.S. patent application number 13/206359 was filed with the patent office on 2013-02-14 for heat pipe with unequal cross-sections.
This patent application is currently assigned to COOLER MASTER CO., LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is Chang-Yin Chen, Han-Lin Chen, Chun-Hung LIN. Invention is credited to Chang-Yin Chen, Han-Lin Chen, Chun-Hung LIN.
Application Number | 20130037241 13/206359 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47676786 |
Filed Date | 2013-02-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130037241 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LIN; Chun-Hung ; et
al. |
February 14, 2013 |
HEAT PIPE WITH UNEQUAL CROSS-SECTIONS
Abstract
The heat pipe of the invention includes an evaporation section
and two condensation sections. The evaporation section is located
at a part of the heat pipe. The two condensation sections are
separately located at two opposite sides of the evaporation
section. The evaporation section and the two condensation sections
communicate with each other, and a peripheral size of the
evaporation section is larger than that of each of the condensation
sections.
Inventors: |
LIN; Chun-Hung; (New Taipei
City, TW) ; Chen; Han-Lin; (New Taipei City, TW)
; Chen; Chang-Yin; (New Taipei City, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
LIN; Chun-Hung
Chen; Han-Lin
Chen; Chang-Yin |
New Taipei City
New Taipei City
New Taipei City |
|
TW
TW
TW |
|
|
Assignee: |
COOLER MASTER CO., LTD.
|
Family ID: |
47676786 |
Appl. No.: |
13/206359 |
Filed: |
August 9, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.26 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 15/046 20130101;
F28D 15/0233 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/104.26 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/04 20060101
F28D015/04 |
Claims
1. A heat pipe comprising: an evaporation section located at a part
of the heat pipe; and two condensation sections separately located
at two opposite sides of the evaporation section; wherein the
evaporation section and the two condensation sections communicate
with each other, and a peripheral size of the evaporation section
is larger than that of each of the condensation sections.
2. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the heat pipe is made of
metal.
3. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the heat pipe is a straight
tube with a circular cross-section.
4. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the heat pipe is a straight
tube with a flat cross-section.
5. The heat pipe of claim 1, wherein the evaporation section is
circular, semicircular or flat in shape.
6. The heat pipe of claim 5, wherein each of the condensation
sections is circular or flat in shape.
7. The heat pipe of claim 1, further comprising a first capillary
structure disposed in the evaporation section and the condensation
sections.
8. The heat pipe of claim 7, further comprising a second capillary
structure disposed in each of the condensation sections and
covering the first capillary structure.
9. The heat pipe of claim 8, further comprising a working fluid
filled in the heat pipe.
10. A heat sink comprising: a heat pipe comprising: an evaporation
section located at a part of the heat pipe; and two condensation
sections separately located at and bendingly extending from two
opposite sides of the evaporation section; wherein the evaporation
section and the two condensation sections communicate with each
other, and a peripheral size of the evaporation section is larger
than that of each of the condensation sections; and a fin set
disposed on at least one of the condensation sections.
11. The heat sink of claim 10, wherein the heat pipe is made of
metal.
12. The heat sink of claim 10, wherein the heat pipe is a straight
tube with a circular cross-section.
13. The heat sink of claim 10, wherein the heat pipe is a straight
tube with a flat cross-section.
14. The heat sink of claim 10, wherein the evaporation section is
circular, semicircular or flat in shape.
15. The heat sink of claim 14, wherein each of the condensation
sections is circular or flat in shape.
16. The heat sink of claim 10, further comprising a first capillary
structure disposed in the evaporation section and the condensation
sections.
17. The heat sink of claim 16, further comprising a second
capillary structure disposed in each of the condensation sections
and covering the first capillary structure.
18. The heat sink of claim 17, further comprising a working fluid
filled in the heat pipe.
19. The heat sink of claim 10, further comprising a fan disposed on
one side of the fin set.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Technical Field
[0002] The invention relates to heat pipes, particularly to heat
pipes with unequal cross-sections.
[0003] 2. Related Art
[0004] Modern electronic components generate more and more heat
than ever. Heat pipes can rapidly transfer a large amount of heat.
Conventional heat sinks without heat pipes are unable to
effectively dissipate heat from modern electronic components. Thus
heat sinks associated with heat pipes has become a mainstream.
[0005] A conventional heat pipe is composed of an even tube, a
capillary structure and a working fluid. The wick is disposed in
the tube and abuts against the inner side thereof. The working
fluid is contained in the capillary structure.
[0006] However, the even tube with equal cross-section cannot be
accelerated to transfer heat when the working fluid is evaporated
into vapor. Thus its efficiency of heat transfer is limited. On the
other hand, the even tube cannot be bent in a smaller radius of
curvature because of its equal cross-section. Hence, the tube may
not be formed into a desired shape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] An object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe which
has multiple sections with different cross-sections to accelerate
flowing speed of vapor and to enhance efficiency of heat
transfer.
[0008] Another object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe
which can be bent in a smaller radius of curvature.
[0009] To accomplish the above object, the heat pipe of the
invention includes an evaporation section and two condensation
sections. The evaporation section is located at a part of the heat
pipe. The two condensation sections are separately located at two
opposite sides of the evaporation section. The evaporation section
and the two condensation sections communicate with each other, and
a peripheral size of the evaporation section is larger than that of
each of the condensation sections.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section view of the invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a cross section view along the line 3-3 in FIG.
2;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section view of the invention;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the
invention;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a longitudinal section view of the embodiment
shown in FIG. 6;
[0017] FIG. 8 is a cross section view along the line 8-8 in FIG.
7;
[0018] FIG. 9 is a cross section view along the line 9-9 in FIG.
7;
[0019] FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the invention associated with
a heat sink;
[0020] FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the invention associated with
another heat sink; and
[0021] FIG. 12 is a cross section view of the evaporation section
of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0022] Please refer to FIGS. 1-5. The invention provides a heat
pipe with unequal cross-sections. The heat pipe may be a metallic
tube. The heat pipe 1 includes a tube 10, a first capillary
structure 20, a second capillary structure 30, a working fluid 40,
an evaporation section 101 and two condensation sections 102,
103.
[0023] The tube 10 is made of copper or copper alloy with great
thermo-conductivity. The tube 10 may be a straight tube with a
circular cross-section and has a chamber 11 therein. The inner wall
of the tube 10 is formed with a plurality of grooves 12. And a
protrusion 13 is formed between two adjacent grooves 12. The
grooves 12 and protrusions 13 constitute the first capillary
structure 20 as shown in FIG. 3.
[0024] The middle portion of the tube 10 is expanded by a flaring
process such that the chamber 11a at the middle portion is larger
than the chamber 11b at two opposite ends in size. Similarly, this
shape of the tube 10 may be formed by shrinking two opposite ends
of the tube 10.
[0025] Preferably, the second capillary structure 30 formed by
metal powder, mesh net or fiber bundle may be disposed on the inner
wall of the tube 10. In other words, there are the first capillary
structure 20 and second capillary structure 30 in chamber 11b of
the tube 10.
[0026] The middle portion of the tube 10 functions as the
evaporation section 101 for contacting a heat source (not shown).
The two opposite ends of the tube 10 function as the two
condensation sections 102, 103 for connecting a fin set. The
condensation sections 102, 103 and the evaporation section 101
communicate with each other. And the evaporation section 101 is
larger than each of the condensation sections 102, 103 in size.
[0027] FIGS. 6-9 show another embodiment of the heat pipe 1' of the
invention. This embodiment differs from the above by the tube 10
being a straight tube with a flat cross-section. Similarly, the
evaporation section 101 is larger than each of the condensation
sections 102, 103 in size. The evaporation section 101 is disposed
with the first capillary structure 20 formed by the grooves 12 and
protrusions 13 and the condensation sections 102, 103 are disposed
with the first capillary structure 20 and the second capillary
structure 30 formed by metal powder, mesh net or fiber bundle.
[0028] FIGS. 8 and 9 show that the area of cross-section of the
chamber 11a is larger than that of the chamber 11b. As a result,
when the working fluid 40 is evaporated into vapor, the vapor can
be accelerated in flowing speed. Besides, the flat shape of the
heat pipe 1' may enlarge the area of thermal contact to further
enhance the efficiency of heat transfer.
[0029] FIG. 10 shows that the heat pipe of the invention is used in
a heat sink. The heat sink includes the heat pipe 1', fin sets 5
and two fans 6. The condensation sections 102, 103 bendingly extend
from the evaporation section 101. The condensation sections 102,
103 are disposed with the fin sets 5 and the fans 6 are separately
fixed on the fin sets 5. Because the condensation sections 102, 103
are smaller than the evaporation section 101 in size, the
condensation sections 102, 103 may be bent in a smaller radius of
curvature to decrease the overall volume of a heat sink.
Furthermore, the larger evaporation section 101 can make a bigger
area of thermal contact with a heat source to enhance efficiency of
heat transfer.
[0030] FIG. 11 shows another heat sink with the heat pipe of the
invention. In this embodiment, the two condensation sections 102,
103 are perpendicularly bent twice to form a substantially ringed
shape such that the overlapped condensation sections 102, 103 pass
through the same fin set 5.
[0031] Besides, the evaporation section 101 and the condensation
sections 102, 103 may be formed into a circular shape and a flat
shape, respectively. The evaporation section 101 and the
condensation sections 102, 103 may be formed into a flat shape and
a circular shape, respectively. The evaporation section 101 and the
condensation sections 102, 103 may be formed into a semicircular
shape as shown in FIG. 12 and a circular shape, respectively. The
evaporation section 101 and the condensation sections 102, 103 may
be formed into a semicircular shape as shown in FIG. 12 and a flat
shape, respectively.
[0032] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that
the above embodiments have been described by way of example only
and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and
modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the
invention as defined by the appended claims.
* * * * *