Heat and Mass Transfer Research Journal (HMTRJ)

Research Article

The Effects of Vapor Passage and Structured Evaporator Surfaces on The Performance of Thin Vapor Chambers

Cherng-Yuh Su¹, Wei-Ting Kuo¹and Chen-Kang Huang²

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan

²Department of BioMechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

Submitted: November 25, 2019; Accepted: December 28, 2019

Abstract

For recent mobile devices, vapor chambers are excellent heat dissipation components to avoid hot spots. However, the space for vapor chambers is less and less. In this study, a fabrication process specially designed for thin vapor chambers was proposed. The wick structure was then processed to integrate with vapor passages of various width or structured surface on the evaporation region. Thin vapor chambers with internal vapor core of 0.6 mm in thickness were focused. Vapor passage width of 2, 4, and 6 mm, as well as three structured surfaces on the evaporation region, were fabricated with the thermal performances explored. The thermal performances of the vapor chambers with and without the specific designs for the same thickness of the bulk copper block were compared. It is found that the vapor chamber with vapor passages width of 6 mm and an indented cross on the evaporation region shows the lowest thermal resistance of 0.186 K/W at the heat source supplied power of 100W. The proposed designs are shown to improve the thermal performance of thin vapor chambers.

Keywords

Vapor chamber, Flat plate heat pipe, Vapor passage, Evaporation region.

Downlaod Full Text >>