Heat-Pipes

In this lecture we will cover heat-pipes. By the end of this lecture students will be able to understand
the benefit of heat-pipes and where they can be utilized.

Heat Pipes are very interesting devices. They utilize the same heat that they aim to remove to power
them up. Therefore, unlike fan connected to heatsinks, Heat-pipes do not require any external
energy source to remove heat.

A heat pipe is not a straight open ended pipe. It is a closed loop pipe; however the principal of heat -
pipe is very simple.

It essentially has two chambers: Evaporator and condenser. These chambers are connected with
pipes. The closed pipe circuit is partially filled with a phase change material and is sealed with
vacuum.

The evaporator portion of the Heat-pipe is what is placed over the hot source. In other words, it is
placed on the hot surface from where the heat has to be removed. As heat gets transferred from the
hot surface into the heat pipe, the phase change material (PCM) inside the heat pipe evaporates.
This evaporated fluid than travels to the condenser segment where it loses its heat. The fluid then
returns back to the evaporator segment through capillary action, centrifugal force or gravity. The
cycle repeats itself and heat is continuously removed.

Heat-pipes for cooling CPU can be purchased for as low as $15-20. Larger Heat-pipes are also
available which can be used for cooling power resistors and batteries. There is a general
misconception that Heat-pipes are large devices require a large spaces. This was true to an extent
during the early days of the technology, but manufacturers have now been able to reduce their size
substantially.

There have been examples where Heat-pipes have been used in phones. Fujitsu for example has
produced a very thin Heat-pipe that can be used for cooling phone batteries. Sony Xperia 72 also
employs Heat-pipe for removing excess heat from the critical parts of the phone. Smart phone Heat-
pipes are now available in diameters of 0.6 mm whereas PC and Laptop cooling Heat-pipes
diameters can be as low as 0.8 mm.

It is also interesting to note that Graphite sheets are often used particularly in phones to spread the
heat. Heat-pipes have proven to be more effective than Graphite sheets.

Students are urged to explore Heat-Pipes online. This will give them an idea of different sizes and
shapes that Heat-pipes can be purchased. It will also give them an idea of the prices.

The great thing about heat pipes is that they do not require any maintenance. Compared to fan
cooling, they are more reliable because they do not have any components. They are made of
Copper, which is soft. So care should be exercised during installation that the pipes are not bent or
get squashed as this can hinder performance.

This concludes the lecture on Heat-pipes. Thank you for your attention