Cooling of Notebook PCs by Flexible Oscillating Heat Pipes

An oscillating heat pipe consists of a micro channel which turns many times between the heating section and the cooling section. Herein, a developmental study on flexible oscillating heat pipes for cooling notebook personal computers is presented. The heat pipe functions to transport heat from the CPU to the rear surface of the folding display, which serves as a radiating surface. The heat pipe tubes at the hinge are flexible so that the heat pipe may fold. In order to evaluate the thermal performance of the cooling system, flexible oscillating heat pipes were fabricated and tested. The heat pipes consist of copper capillary tubes and Teflon flexible tubes. Excellent thermal performance was obtained in the test: the thermal resistance was 0.3 K/W and the maximum heat transport capability was 100 W.