A heat pipe or heat pin is a heat-transfer device that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces.
At the hot interface within a heat pipe, which is typically at a very low pressure, a liquid in contact with a thermally conductive solid surface turns into a vapor by absorbing heat from that surface. The vapor then travels along the heat pipe to the cold interface, condenses back into a liquid, releasing the latent heat. The liquid then returns to the hot interface through either capillary action or gravity action where it evaporates once more and repeats the cycle. In addition, the internal pressure of the heat pipe can be set or adjusted to facilitate the phase change depending on the demands of the working conditions of the thermally managed system.
Read more about Heat Pipe: Structure, Design and Construction, Heat Transfer, Origins and Research in The United States, Applications, Limitations
Famous quotes containing the words heat and/or pipe:
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)