A novel flat heat pipe has been developed to assist in meeting the high thermal design requirements in high power microelectronics, power converting systems, laptop computers and spacecraft thermal control systems. Two different prototypes, each measuring 152.4 mm by 25.4 mm were constructed and evaluated experimentally. Sintered copper screen mesh was used as the primary wicking structure, in conjunction with a series of parallel wires, which formed liquid arteries. Water was selected as the working fluid. Both experimental and analytical investigations were conducted to examine the maximum heat transport capacity and optimize the design parameters of this particular design. The experimental results indicated that the maximum heat transport capacity and heat flux for Prototype 1, which utilized four layers of 100 mesh screen were 112 W and $17.4W/cm2,$ respectively, in the horizontal position. For Prototype 2, which utilized six layers of 150 mesh screen, these values were 123 W and $19.1W/cm2,$ respectively. The experimental results were in good agreement with the theoretical predictions for a mesh compact coefficient of $C=1.15.$

1.
Plesch, D., Bier, W., Seidel, D., and Schubert, K., 1991, “Miniature Heat Pipes for Heat Removal from Microelectronic Circuits,” Proceedings of ASME Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
2.
Hopkins
,
R.
,
Faghri
,
A.
, and
Khrustalev
,
D.
,
1999
, “
Flat Miniature Heat Pipes With Micro Capillary Grooves
,”
ASME J. Heat Transfer
,
121
, pp.
102
109
.
3.
Peterson
,
G. P.
,
Duncan
,
A. B.
, and
Weichold
,
M. H.
,
1993
, “
Experimental Investigation of Micro Heat Pipe Fabricated in Silicon Wafers
,”
ASME J. Heat Transfer
,
11
, pp.
751
756
.
4.
Peterson, G. P., 1994, An Introduction to Heat Pipes—Modeling, Testing, and Applications, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York.
5.
Faghri, A., Heat Pipe Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis, PA, 1995, pp. 240–245.
6.
Wang, Y. X., and Peterson, G. P., 2003, “Investigation of the Heat Transfer Limits in Thin Capillary Wicks of Phase-Change Cooling Devices,” The 6th ASME–JSME Thermal Engineering Joint Conference, March 16–20, Kohala, Hawaii.
7.
Van Ooijen, H., and Hoogendoorn, C. J., 1981, “Experimental Pressure Profiles Along the Vapor Channel of a Flat-Plate Heat Pipe,” Advances in Heat Pipe Technology, Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 121–129.
8.
Mallik
,
A. K.
, and
Peterson
,
G. P
,
1992
, “
On the Use of Micro Heat Pipes As an Integral Part of Semiconductor Devices Arrays
ASME J. Electron. Packag.
,
114
, pp.
436
442
.
9.
Mallik
,
A. K.
, and
Peterson
,
G. P.
,
1995
, “
Steady-State Investigation of Vapor Deposited Micro Heat Pipe Arrays
,”
ASME J. Electron. Packag.
,
117
, pp.
75
87
.
10.
Peterson
,
G. P.
,
Duncan
,
A. B.
, and
Weichold
,
M. H.
,
1993
, “
Experimental Investigation of Micro Heat Pipe Fabricated in Silicon Wafers
,”
ASME J. Heat Transfer
,
11
, pp.
751
756
.
11.
Wang
,
Y. X.
, and
Peterson
,
G. P.
,
2002
, “
Investigation of Wire-Bonded Micro Heat Pipes
,”
AIAA J.
,
16
, pp.
346
355
.
12.
Wang, Y. X., and Peterson, G. P., 2003, “Flat Heat Pipe Cooling Devices for Laptopo/Mobile Computers,” ASME INTERPACK03 Int’l Electronic Packaging Conf. and Expo., July 6–11, Maui, Hawaii.
13.
Bejan, A., 1985, Convection Heat Transfer, John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 77–82.
14.
Shah, R. K., and Bhatti, M. S., 1987, “Laminar Convective Heat Transfer in Ducts,” Handbook of Single-Phase Convective Heat Transfer, Wiley, New York, pp. 3.45–3.70.
15.
Wang, Y. X., and Peterson, G. P., 2002, “Investigation of htin Film Evaporation Limit in Single Screen Mesh Layer,” Proceedings of the 2002 ASME Int’l Mechanical Enr. Conf. and Expo., November 17–22, New Orleans, LA.
16.
Cary V. P., 1992, Liquid–Vapor Phase-Change Phenomena: An Introduction to the Thermophysics of Vaporization and Condensation Process in Heat Transfer Equipment, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Washington, p. 140.