Patent Application
20130239410
1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to heat pipes and, particularly, to a method for manufacturing a heat pipe.
2. Description of Related Art
With the continuing development of electronic technology, electronic components are made to have smaller sizes and higher frequencies. However, issues of heat dissipation are also raised accordingly. In order to cool the electronic components, heat dissipation devices, such as heat pipes, are used to dissipate heat from the electronic components.
A typical heat pipe includes a tube, a wick structure received in the tube, and a working fluid sealed in the tube. The heat pipe is generally manufactured by cutting a long pipe into several tubes, forming a wick structure in each tube, filling working liquid in each tube, vacuuming each tube, and sealing each tube. Some types of the heat pipes may further be bended or flattened to have predetermined shapes. The manufacturing processes of the heat pipes may be difficult. Furthermore, during flattening or bending, the wick structure may be destroyed or even dropped from the inner wall of the tube, thereby affecting the heat transferring capability of the heat pipe.
What is needed, therefore, is a means which can address the limitations described.
Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the various views.
Referring to
The tube 11 is made by sintering an upper blank 111 and a lower blank 112 together as shown in
The metal powder and the organic cement are mixed by a mixing roll, to thereby form the mixture. The mixture is a plastic fluid where the metal powder is uniformly distributed in the organic cement. Alternatively, the plastic fluid may be further granulated or grinded according to requirements of next manufacturing processes.
The plastic fluid is further injected into a mold to form a plurality of blanks 111, 112. In this embodiment, the tube 11 is constructed by joining the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 together. Each of the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 has a U-shaped cross section. Each of the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 has a wick structure 12 formed on an inner face thereof. The wick structure 12 includes a plurality of protrusions 122 and a plurality of grooves 121 between the protrusions 122. The protrusions 122 of the wick structure 12 may be formed with each of the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 as a single monolithic piece. Alternatively, the protrusions 122 may be attached on the inner face of the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 after the blank 111, 112 is molded.
The upper and lower blanks 111, 112 are further debinded to release the organic cement from the sintered metal powder. In this embodiment, the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 are debinded under a high temperature so that the organic cement is heated to gas escaping from the metal powder. Alternatively, other treating methods, such as siphonage-thermal debinding or solvent-thermal debinding, may also be used in this step.
The upper and lower blanks 111, 112 are finally sintered to join together. Gaps between the particulates of the metal powder are eliminated during heating the metal powder under a high temperature. Thus, the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 are firmly fixed to each other to form the entire tube 11. The tube 11 has a closed end 110 and an open end 113 opposite to the closed end 110. The open end 113 gradually shrinks in a direction away from the closed end 110. The tube 11 may be further machined by thermal treatment or surface treatment to improve an appearance thereof.
The tube 11 is filled with the working liquid from the open end 113. The working liquid may be selected from materials such as water, alcohol, acetone or the like. The tube 11 is then vacuumed through the open end 113 to exhaust air in the tube 11. Finally, the open end 113 of the tube 11 is sealed to form a hermetic space within the tube 11.
The tube 11 manufactured by this method can directly form a predetermined shape. Thus, the typical manufacturing processes for shaping the conventional heat pipe, such as cutting, bending or flattening, are undesired for the heat pipe 10 of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the heat pipe 10 of the present disclosure can be made more easily. Furthermore, the simplification of the manufacturing processes of the present disclosure can protect the wick structure 12 of the heat pipe 10 from being destroyed or even dropped from the tube 11 during bending or flattening. Therefore, the quality of the heat pipe 10 is improved.
In order to facilitate joint of the upper and lower blanks 111, 112 before sintering, some positioning structures may be formed on the upper and lower blanks 111, 112. For example,
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101109128 | Mar 2012 | TW | national |
