A vapor chamber using extended condenser concept for ultra-high heat flux and large heater area

We proposed an extended vapor chamber (EVC), consisting of an evaporator part and an extended condenser part. A layer of compressed copper foam was sintered on the inner evaporator surface. The extended condenser includes a circular-straight groove network and a fin region. The groove network distributes generated vapor everywhere in the internal volume of EVC. A set of capillary holes are machined within fins. A sliced copper foam bar is inserted in each of capillary hole. The peaks of copper foam bar are tightly contacted with the evaporator copper foam piece. Water is used as the working fluid with a heater area of 0.785 cm(2). A minimum thermal resistance of 0.03 K/W is reached for the bottom heating. The heat flux is up to 450 W/cm(2) without reaching dryout. The transition point of thermal resistances versus heat fluxes is significantly delayed with the heat flux exceeding 300 W/cm(2), beyond which thermal resistances are only slightly increased. EVC not only improves temperature uniformity on the evaporator and fin base surfaces, but also evens the temperature distribution along the fin height direction to increase the fin efficiency. Inclination angles and charge ratios are combined to affect the thermal performance of EVC. An optimal charge ratio of 0.3 was recommended. EVC can be used for ultra-high heat flux and larger heater area conditions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.