Development of Wick for Loop Heat Pipe

Loop heat pipes have been investigated and developed as heat transport and cooling methods for electronic devices. Loop heat pipes with high reliability have been used as cooling devices in the space and deep sea as they work on the principle of capillary pumping without any mechanical driving parts. In this study in order to improve the heat transport performance of a loop heat pipe, the nonwoven fabric wick was developed. The loop heat pipe with a plate-type evaporator was manufactured and the heat transport characteristics of the loop heat pipe with this wick were investigated. The wick developed in this study has larger porosity than the commercial one with almost same pore diameter. In result, the loop heat pipe with the developed wick accomplished wider heat transport range