Performance study of flat heat pipe with metallic copper hierarchical structure as a wick

Abstract

Flat plate heat pipes (FHP) can transport high heat fluxes liberated by electrical and electronic equipment. Wick structure plays an essential role in the performance of the heat pipe. The wick structures are made of materials like sintered metal powder, foam, screen mesh, different shapes of grooves, or any material capable of producing capillary force. Generally, wick structures can be inserted or fixed easily inside the heat pipe enclosure. There are cases where one cannot insert or fix the wick structure, such as tubes with several bends and varying cross-sections. Therefore, this study directed to develop a wick structure inside the enclosure through an electrochemical process. As a preliminary study, a hierarchical wick structure is formed at the inner side of the flat heat pipe, and the performance is studied. This method can be applied to create dendrite copper wicks with the required porosity, pore size, and wick thickness by adjusting the electrolyzing conditions. In this study, a flat heat pipe is fabricated with copper hierarchical wick structure, and the performance analyzed over another heat pipe without wick and with screen wick.