ECHiPCHeP - Electronics Cooling via Hi Performance Coated Heat Pipes

Heat Pipes are vital to the thermal management of high performance silicon chips and are present in virtually every new laptop computer. Thermacore is a world leader in heat pipe technology and specialises in thermal management of high performance electronic devices such as for military applications. To protect and expand its position at the high end of the market, Thermacore Europe (TCE) and Oxford nanoSystems (ONS) have, with Brunel University (BU), identified an opportunity to improve the maximum heat flux of a heat pipe by replacing or augmenting the current internal evaporative cooling surface with a high performance nano-coating. The expected benefits including higher power, lower weight and lower cost will allow the UK to maintain its lead in this high value part of the electronics market and the partners to expand into new areas of heat and energy management.