Experimental investigation of a vapour chamber heat spreader with hybrid wick structure

Abstract

The vapour chamber is a two-phase heat transfer device that is able to effectively spread heat from concentrated heat sources to much larger heat sinks. This paper presents an experimental investigation into a copper-water vapour chamber heat spreader with hybrid wick structures. The vapour chamber had sintered powder and screen mesh wicks on the evaporator, and a screen mesh wick on the condenser. Its overall dimensions were 123 mm × 140 mm × 3 mm. The spreading resistance of the vapour chamber was explored for a non-central heating scenario. It was determined that spreading resistance of 0.08 K/W could be achieved with this vapour chamber, which was around half what would be achieved with an equivalent copper heat spreader. At low heat inputs, the vapour chamber experienced start-up difficulties. Furthermore, temperature drops through the vapour chamber and copper spreader were explored and some weaknesses of current vapour chamber designs were highlighted. Even with these weaknesses, the hybrid wick vapour chamber was able to spread heat more effectively than a copper spreader.