U.S. patent application number 14/180165 was filed with the patent office on 2015-07-16 for heat pipe structure with deformable wick structure.
The applicant listed for this patent is Hao PAI. Invention is credited to Hao PAI.
Application Number | 20150198376 14/180165 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53521067 |
Filed Date | 2015-07-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150198376 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
PAI; Hao |
July 16, 2015 |
HEAT PIPE STRUCTURE WITH DEFORMABLE WICK STRUCTURE
Abstract
A heat pipe includes a pipe and a wick structure disposed
therein. The pipe has a longitudinal vapor passage. The wick
structure has a strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the
vapor passage and two positioning wick portions which separately
connect to two ends of the main wick portion. Each positioning wick
portion has a connection section and an abutting section extending
therefrom. The connection sections separately connect the
positioning wick portions to two ends of the main wick portion. The
abutting sections abut against two opposite positions of an inside
wall of the pipe.
Inventors: |
PAI; Hao; (Taoyuan County,
TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PAI; Hao |
Taoyuan County |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
53521067 |
Appl. No.: |
14/180165 |
Filed: |
February 13, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/104.26 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 15/0233 20130101;
F28D 15/046 20130101 |
International
Class: |
F28D 15/04 20060101
F28D015/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 14, 2014 |
TW |
103101339 |
Claims
1. A heat pipe structure comprising: a pipe, having a longitudinal
vapor passage; and a wick structure, disposed in the pipe, having a
strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the vapor passage and
two positioning wick portions which separately connect to two ends
of the main wick portion, two sides of the main wick portion
keeping the vapor passage unimpeded, each positioning wick portion
having a connection section and an abutting section extending
therefrom, the connection sections separately connecting the
positioning wick portions to two ends of the main wick portion, and
the abutting sections separately abutting against an inside wall of
the pipe.
2. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the a cross-section
of the pipe is circular or flat.
3. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the
pipe is less than 0.6 mm.
4. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the pipe includes a
pipe body and two end portions which separately seal two opposite
ends of the pipe.
5. The heat pipe structure of claim 4, wherein each of the two end
portions is formed in a conic shape.
6. The heat pipe structure of claim 5, wherein the positioning wick
portions are bent to be semicircular to separately abut against the
conic shapes.
7. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the wick structure
is sinter powder, woven fiber or metal wires, or a curled metal
mesh.
8. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick
portion is diagonally arranged in the pipe.
9. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick
portion is centrally arranged in the pipe in a width direction.
10. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the main wick
portion is centrally arranged in the pipe to be parallel to a
length direction of the pipe.
11. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the two positioning
wick portions are bent at their respective connection sections and
extend toward a width direction to be a straight shape.
12. The heat pipe structure of claim 11, wherein the abutting
sections are further bent separately along the two inside walls of
the pipe to abut against the inside walls.
13. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the connection
sections separately abut against the two inside walls of the
pipe.
14. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the abutting
sections are arranged in two opposite directions to abut against
two opposite inside walls of the pipe in a width direction.
15. The heat pipe structure of claim 1, wherein the abutting
sections are arranged in the same direction to abut against the
same inside wall of the pipe.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Technical Field
[0002] The invention relates to wick structures, particularly to a
heat pipe structure with a variable wick structure.
[0003] 2. Related Art
[0004] Conventional wick structures in heat pipes, such as fiber or
woven or curled metal mesh, must have residual stress after they
have been woven or curled. Such residual stress will make the wick
structures hard to keep a desired shape. As a result, the wick
structures are difficult to be put in the pipe or to be at a
correct position or in a correct shape.
[0005] Especially for a strip-shaped wick structure (such as a
coaxially woven fiber wick structure), it is extremely difficult to
keep a straight type in a heat pipe because of its long and thin
shape. Although such a wick structure can be fixed in the pipe by
sintering, it still tends to be deformed to lose its straight type
when it is placed in the pipe before sintering because of the
residual stress. This will cause an unexpected shape of the wick
structure after sintering. Even the pipe may cave in when
degassing. This is a really serious problem of design of wick
structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] An object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe
structure with a deformable wick structure, whose wick structure
can be effectively positioned in the heat pipe and can be serve as
a support which supports the pipe.
[0007] Another object of the invention is to provide a heat pipe
structure with a deformable wick structure, whose wick structure
can keep a desired shape to be sintered in the heat pipe.
[0008] To accomplish the above object, the heat pipe of the
invention includes a pipe and a wick structure disposed therein.
The pipe has a longitudinal vapor passage. The wick structure has a
strip-shaped main wick portion which passes the vapor passage and
two positioning wick portions which separately connect to two ends
of the main wick portion. Each positioning wick portion has a
connection section and an abutting section extending therefrom. The
connection sections separately connect the positioning wick
portions to two ends of the main wick portion. The abutting
sections abut against two opposite positions of an inside wall of
the pipe.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the first embodiment of the
invention;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the
invention;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first embodiment of the
invention;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the second embodiment of the
invention;
[0013] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the third embodiment of the
invention;
[0014] FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the
invention;
[0015] FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the fifth embodiment of the
invention;
[0016] FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the sixth embodiment of the
invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, which are an exploded view
and a perspective view of the first embodiment of the invention.
The invention provides a heat pipe structure with a deformable wick
structure, which includes a pipe 1 and a wick structure 2 disposed
therein.
[0018] The pipe 1 is a long and hollow body and has a circular or
flat cross-section. In the shown embodiment, the pipe 1 is flat as
an example. Such a flat pipe 1 can be applied as an extra thin heat
pipe (an outside thickness is less than 0.6 mm). As shown in FIG.
1, the pipe 1, before sealing, includes a pipe body 10 and an end
portion 11 which is sealed at an end thereof. The pipe body 10 has
a longitudinal vapor passage 100 (as shown in FIG. 3) communicating
an opening at the other end of the pipe body 10 so that the wick
structure 2 can be put in the vapor passage 100 through the
opening. When the wick structure 2 has been put in the pipe 1 and a
degassing process has been completed, the opening will be sealed to
form another end portion 11' with a sealing structure 12.
[0019] The wick structure 2 may be sintered powder, woven fiber or
metal wires, or curled metal mesh and is disposed in the pipe 1. As
shown in FIG. 3, the wick structure 2 includes a strip-shaped main
wick portion 20 which passes the vapor passage 100 and two
positioning wick portions 21, 21' which separately connect two ends
of the main wick portion 20. The main wick portion 20 is just
received in the vapor passage 100, so that two sides of the main
wick portion 20 keeps the vapor passage 100 unimpeded. Each
positioning wick portion 21, 21' has a connection section 210, 210'
and an abutting section 211, 211' extending therefrom. The
connection sections 210, 210' separately connect the positioning
wick portions 21, 21' to two ends of the main wick portion 20. The
abutting sections 211, 211' extend to form free ends of the wick
structure 2. In the first embodiment of the invention, the main
wick portion 20 is diagonally arranged in the pipe 1 or vapor
passage 100. And the two positioning wick portions 21, 21' are bent
at their respective connection sections 210, 210' and extend toward
a width direction of the pipe 1 in a straight shape. The invention
arranges the two positioning wick portions 21, 21' in opposite
directions to separately abut against two opposite positions of two
inside walls 101, 101' of the pipe 1.
[0020] Therefore, by the above structure, the heat pipe structure
with a deformable wick structure of the invention can be
obtained.
[0021] Please refer to FIG. 3. Because the wick structure 2 is
curved in the pipe 1, the two positioning wick portions 21, 21' can
make their abutting sections 211, 211' separately abut against two
opposite positions of the inside walls 101, 101' of the pipe 1 by
means of their own elastic restoring force. Thus the wick structure
2 can be positioned and shaped in the pipe 1. Of course, the wick
structure 2 can also use the connection sections 210, 210' to abut
against the inside walls 101, 101' of the pipe 1.
[0022] FIG. 4 shows the second embodiment of the invention. In this
embodiment, the abutting sections 211, 211' are further bent along
the inside walls 101, 101' to separately abut against the inside
walls 101, 101'.
[0023] FIG. 5 shows the third embodiment of the invention. In this
embodiment, the positioning wick portions 21, 21' are bent to be
semicircular, and each of the two end portions 11, 11' is formed in
a conic shape 110, 110' for being abutted by the positioning wick
portions 21, 21'.
[0024] FIG. 6 shows the fourth embodiment of the invention. In this
embodiment, the main wick portion 20 is centrally arranged in the
pipe 1 or vapor passage 100 and is parallel to a length direction
of the pipe 1 or vapor passage 100.
[0025] FIG. 7 shows the fifth embodiment of the invention. In this
embodiment, the main wick portion 20 is centrally arranged in the
pipe 1 in a width direction and the two positioning portions 21,
21' are separately bent to be two circles. The abutting sections
211, 211' are arranged in the same direction to abut against the
same inside wall 101. FIG. 8 shows the sixth embodiment of the
invention. In this embodiment, the abutting sections 211, 211'
separately abut against the inside walls 101, 101' and further
extend to be parallel to a part of the main wick portion 20.
[0026] Therefore, by the invention, each of the positioning wick
portions 21. 21' can exert a force to the inside walls 101, 101'
through the restoring force of the wick structure 2 so that the
wick structure 2 can be positioned and shaped in the pipe 1. The
wick structure 2 can keep a desired shape to be sintered in the
pipe 1. This can reduce the problem of deformation of the wick
structure 2. Especially for the extra thin heat pipe, its limited
space cannot allow a tool to be used. Thus it really needs the
invention to automatically position and shape a wick structure.
[0027] 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.
* * * * *