Research on thermal resistance of micro heat pipe with trapezium-grooved wick

As an efficient heat conducting unit, micro heat pipe is widely used in high heat flux microelectronic chips, and thermal resistance is one of the factors that are crucial to its heat transfer capacity. Based on heat transfer theory, this paper established a theoretical model of total thermal resistance through analyzing the structure and heat transfer performance of circular heat pipe with trapezium-grooved wick, simplified the model and tested the micro heat pipe for its total thermal resistance performance by setting up a testing platform. The testing results show that when the micro heat pipe is in the optimal heat transfer state, its total thermal resistance well coincides with that from the established theoretical model. As for a micro heat pipe with trapezium-grooved wick, its total thermal resistance first decreases, then increases with heat transfer capability increment, and reaches the minimum when it is in the optimal state of heat transfer performance. That too much working fluid accumulates in evaporation section and the vapor velocity is rather low is the main cause for the greater thermal resistance when the pipe is in low heat transfer quantity, yet the greater total thermal resistance when the pipe is in high heat transfer quantity is mainly caused by the working fluid drying up in condensation section. The total thermal resistance is related to many factors, such as the thermal conductivity of tube-shell material, wall thickness, wick thickness, the number of the grooves, the lengths of condensation and evaporation sections, the diameter of vapor cavity etc. Therefore, the structure parameters of a micro heat pipe with trapezium-grooved wick should be rationally designed according to specific conditions to ensure its heat transfer capacity and total thermal resistance to meet the requirements and be in the optimal state. © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.