ACT is one of leading manufacturers and suppliers of heat pipes in the United States. We produce a wide variety of heat pipes, heat sinks and heat pipe assemblies for thermal management of electronics and applications such as LEDs, card chassis, lasers, radar systems and medical systems. Our heat pipes offer a high thermal conductivity range of 10,000 to 100,000 W/m K and excellent shock/vibration and freeze/thaw tolerance. They also provide an extremely cost-effective thermal control system solution.

HOW ARE HEAT PIPES USED?

Heat Pipes which have also be termed heatpipes or even thermal pipes, are used across a wide range of markets and applications, and we’re known for producing high-quality copper heat pipes. In fact, ACT is the only US manufacturer that routinely delivers heat pipes for terrestrial electronics cooling (copper-water), on orbit satellite thermal management (aluminum-ammonia) and high temperature calibration equipment (liquid metal). Navigate through the products section below for more information on any of these highly reliable products.

AN OVERVIEW OF HEAT PIPE TECHNOLOGY

A heat pipe is a two phase heat transfer device with a very high effective thermal conductivity.  It is a vacuum tight device consisting of an envelope, a working fluid, and a wick structure.  As shown in Figure 1, the heat input vaporizes the liquid working fluid inside the wick in the evaporator section. The saturated vapor, carrying the latent heat of vaporization, flows towards the colder condenser section.  In the condenser, the vapor condenses and gives up its latent heat.  The condensed liquid returns to the evaporator through the wick structure by capillary action.  The phase change processes and two- phase flow circulation continue as long as the temperature gradient between the evaporator and condenser are maintained.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HEAT PIPES

If you are designing a thermal system and simply want to learn more about heat pipes for cooling, use the links in the Operation Section. If you still have questions, contact us and an engineer will be in contact with you.

See a full video and transcription about the basics of heat pipes and their advantages.