Method of manufacturing heat pipe wicks and arteries
US4929414A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 24, 1988 |
| Grant date | May 29, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 24, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T29/49982
- WIPO fieldMaterials, metallurgy
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A new method for making a heat pipe wick and arteries includes drilling. Radial holes around the circumference of the heat pipe container at its ends and stringing monofilament polymer lines inside the container between corresponding holes. The container is rotated at a slow rate while a slurry of nickel powder mixed into a viscous binder of water, Polyox and Methocel is injected inside the container to cover the inside surface of the container and the lines. The rotational rate of the container is then increased to force the slurry to level out to an uniform depth set by the thickness of sleeves attached at each end of the container. Forced air is blown through the inside of the rotating pipe to dry the slurry and form a green wick. After stopping rotation of the pipe, it is then heated inside a sintering oven in a reducing atmosphere to disintegrate the binder and polymer lines and to leave a sintered metal wick having hollow longitudinal arteries.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.