Experimental Investigation on Thermal Performance of Heat Sink With Two Pairs of Embedded Heat Pipes

This article provides an experimental method to study the thermal performance of a heat sink with two pairs (outer and inner pair) of embedded heat pipes. The proposed method can determine the heat transfer rate of the heat pipes under various heating power of the heat source. A comprehensive thermal resistance network of the heat sink is also developed. The network estimates the thermal resistances of the heat sink by applying the thermal performance test result. The results show that the outer and inner pairs of heat pipes carries 21% and 27% of the total heat transfer rate respectively, while 52% of the heating power is dissipated from the base plate to the fins. The dominated thermal resistance of the heat sink is the base to heat pipes resistance which is strongly affected by the thermal performance of the heat pipes. The total thermal resistance of the heat sink shows the lowest value, 0.23°C/W, while the total heat transfer rate of the heat sink is 140W and the heat transfer rate of the outer and inner pairs of heat pipes is 30W and 38 W, respectively.