Novel Thermal Resistance Network Analysis of Heat Sink with Embedded Heat Pipes

Abstract

This article utilizes the experimental method to investigate the thermal performance of heat sinks with one and two pairs of embedded heat pipes. A heat sink with embedded heat pipes transfers the total heat capacity from the heat source to both the base plate and heat pipes, and then disperses heat into the surrounding air via the forced convection. The heat transference from base plate to fins can be conducted through the examined results of the heat sink with and without the function of heat pipes. The heat capacity from heat pipes to fins is equal to the total heat minus the heat from base plate to fins. Therefore, the heat carried by embedded heat pipes can be found using the thermal resistance analytical approach stated in this article. The results show that two and four heat pipes embedded in the base plate carry 36% and 48% of the total dissipated heat respectively; in addition, when the total heating power of the heat sink with two embedded heat pipes is 140W, the total thermal resistance reaches its minimum value of 0.27ºC/W, while for the heat sink with four embedded heat pipes, when the total heating power is between 40W and 240W, the total thermal resistance is 0.24ºC/W, meaning that the thermal performance is better than that of heat sink with two embedded heat pipes.