Numerical Simulation of a Heat Pipe Embedded Cooling System for a Notebook PC

A finite element model using the ANSYS® software package was developed to simulate the thermal performance of a novel heat pipe embedded thermal hinge system in a notebook computer. Introducing heat pipes into a notebook PC cooling system on the back spreader plate assists in spreading heat rapidly throughout the entire plate. The effects of the heat pipe geometry and arrangement on the performance of the cooling system were numerically investigated using the model. Various arrangements of miniature heat pipes and a vapor chamber were studied to optimize the cooling system. The numerical simulation results showed that the new system creates an almost uniform temperature distribution in the entire spreader plate, and evenly dissipates the heat load throughout the display’s back plate. The analysis further confirms that incorporating a heat pipe into a spreader plate has the ability to further battle the ever increasing power dissipation demand, which can significantly benefit operation performance of notebook PCs.