The invention is a very flexible heat pipe which is constructed of multiple layers of material laminated into the final structure. The center of the symmetrical structure is a coarse screen which creates a vapor space. The layers on either side of the screen are copper felt pads, and the outer casing is two layers of metal foil and a layer of polypropylene. The heat pipe constructed in this manner is so a flexible that when one outside surface is covered with adhesive, the heat pipe can essentially be used as tape or a stick-on heat transfer surface which conforms to a body being cooled.

Flexible heat pipe

Numerical study of horizontal ground heat exchangers for design optimization

A method of forming a phase change passive heat sink, with a base member and heat dissipating members, is provided. The base member is hollow and defines an evaporation chamber therein. A number of heat dissipating members are connected to the base member. Each of the heat dissipating members are substantially tubular in configuration with a closed end and an open end and defining respective condensation chambers therein. The open ends of the heat dissipating members are connected to the base member with the condensation chambers and are in fluid communication with the evaporation chamber. A heat transporting media resides in the base member which is movable into the condensation chambers upon application of heat to the base member. Heat is dissipated through the heat dissipating members.

Method of forming a phase change heat sink

An improved ground source heat pump system wherein the subterranean piping installation is constructed of a plurality of modular heat exchange units. Each such unit comprises an external tube with an expanded external surface and an insulated internal tube positioned concentrically within the external tube. The units are integrally formed of flexible plastic material, except for the insulation. The expanded external surface of the external tube significantly increases the heat exchange capacity of the subterranean heat exchanger. The insulation around the internal tube prevents thermal interference between the internal and external tubes and further enhances the heat exchange capacity of the system. There is no need for spacers or fins in the space between the internal and external tubes to control annular spacing or to promote turbulence. Because of the increased efficiency of the system of this invention, less piping is required, which in turn reduces the cost of labor and materials to install such a system and the area of land mass required to contain it. Moreover, because the heat exchange conduit assemblies are modular, they can be prefabricated at a remote site and then conveniently transported to a construction site and installed much more quickly than the extended lengths of conventional piping.

Ground source heat pump system comprising modular subterranean heat exchange units with concentric conduits

Heat sinks having a mounting surface with a coefficient of thermal expansion matching that of silicon are disclosed. Heat pipes having layered composite or integral composite low coefficient of expansion heat sinks are disclosed that can be mounted directly to silicon semiconductor devices.

CTE-matched heat pipe

A corrugated heat pipe sealed at both ends is disclosed, having a longitudinally corrugated peripheral wall and containing operating liquid therein. The corrugated heat pipe comprises inside a rope-like tension member extending therethrough in its longitudinal direction and secured at both ends. The rope-like tension member has the effect of preventing the corrugated heat pipe from elongation due to the weight thereof when the pipe is inserted in the ground, thus eliminating the possibility of local flattening of the corrugated outer periphery or of breakage of the pipe. Further, even when the coefficient of thermal expansion of the rope-like tension member differs from that of the corrugated heat pipe, since the corrugated heat pipe has its outer periphery corrugated in a wavy form in the longitudinal direction, it can sufficiently absorb the thermal expansion of the rope-like tension member. Thus, the corrugated heat pipe will not be broken, even when the coefficient of thermal expansion of the corrugated heat pipe differs from that of the rope-like tension member.

Corrugated heat pipe

A wick layer is attached and fixed to one surface of a metal tape without forming a gap with the metal surface, and thereafter, the tape is rolled so that the surface having the wick layer serves as an inner surface, thus forming a pipe shape, then the pipe wall is corrugated. According to the above process, the wick layer is completely and uniformly attached to the inner surface of the heat pipe.

Heat pipe and method of manufacturing the same

Method of manufacturing a heat pipe

A heat pipe having a turbine built therein includes a vertically oriented, closed tube containing working fluid therein, a hollow taper tube rotatably disposed within the closed tube and having an increasing diameter toward the upper end, and turbine blades attached to the outer periphery of the hollow tube at its intermediate wherein the upper and lower end of the closed tube are heated and cooled, respectively, to create a flow of vapor-phase working fluid through the closed tube to thereby rotate the turbine blades and the hollow tube, and liquid-phase working fluid is fed upward through the hollow tube by the resultant centrifugal force. An apparatus using such a turbine-equipped heat pipe can perform heat transport and electric power generation at the same time by attaching turbine blades to a rotary shaft rotatably supported in the closed tube such that the blades are driven by a flow of vapor-phase working fluid and coupling the rotary shaft with a generator disposed outside the closed tube.

Kouichi Mashiko

Papers

Corrugated heat pipe

Heat pipe and method of manufacturing the same

Method of manufacturing a heat pipe

Heat pipe having a turbine built therein and apparatus using same

Wärmerohr und Verfahren zur Herstellung.