Numerical investigation of characteristics of wick structure and working fluid of U-shape heat pipe for CPU cooling

In the current study, the effects of the wick structures and working fluids characteristics on U-shape heat pipe performance were numerically presented. A two-dimensional FEM simulation was performed on U-shape heat pipe to analyze the temperature and the pressure distributions inside the heat pipe. In order to reduce the pressure arising in the area of the wick to increase heat transport capability at the liquid-wick region, a comparative numerical study was made by using methanol and water as working fluids with sintered powder and screen mesh wicks. The simulation was performed by using ANSYS/FLOTRAN software with heat input of 10 W at forced convection. The results showed that the use of sintered copper powder wick resulted in a small temperature difference between the evaporator and condenser compared to screen mesh wick. The use of screen mesh wick caused a decrease in the pressure drop in liquid-wick region while the use of methanol as working fluid increased the liquid pressure drop. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.