Experimental investigation on a 0.5-metre-long aluminum flat heat pipe for thermal management in electronic devices

Abstract

In this work, an aluminum flat heat pipe with 500 mm in length and 3 mm in thickness is proposed for efficient long-distance heat transfer and utilization for waste heat recovery. The experiments of aluminum flat heat pipes with different filling ratios are carried out under different inclination angles. The surface temperature distribution, critical power, thermal resistance, and thermal conductivity of aluminum flat heat pipes are experimentally investigated, respectively. The results indicate that the optimized liquid filling ratio of the aluminum flat heat pipe is 30 %, and the recommended working angle is 90° (with gravity assistance). The optimized aluminum flat heat pipe has good temperature distribution, a high critical power (110 W), a low thermal resistance (0.25 ℃/W@90 W), and excellent thermal conductivity (13880 W/(m·K) @90 W). In addition, the aluminum flat heat pipe has a low density of 1.8 g/cm3, which is suitable for lightweight and efficient heat dissipation applications, especially for the aerospace field. Furthermore, the application of long aluminum flat heat pipe for waste heat recovery is also demonstrated, showing great potential advantages in wide industrial fields.