Leightweight, Low Cost, Magnesium Alloy Heat Pipe

Thermacore are world leaders in the design, development and manufacture of
thermal systems, particularly utilising their core competence of heat pipes and
integrating them into solutions for a wide variety of customers and industries. See
Fig 1. Conventional heat pipes are manufactured using a variety of container
materials, including copper, carbon steels, stainless steels, aluminium and in some
cases titanium. The container creates a hermetically sealed chamber to allow a
vacuum to be drawn within the container or heat pipe and allow it to function at low
temperatures. Heat Pipes require a wick to /itf:ucture to function. The wick enables
the working fluid contained within the Heat Pipe to be transported from the
condenser to the evaporator end. Capillary forces within the wick assist the
movement of the liquid. Internal wick structures are required that are compatible with
the container material. Therefore one of the main aims of this project is to identify
container and wick materials that are compatible with each other and also with any
chosen working fluid
There is constant pressure from end users to further improve the overall
performance of heat pipes. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, thermal
performance, costs and weight. Heat pipes, particularly those made from aluminium,
are used extensively in the aerospace industry, however their thermal performance
can be up to 50% lower than that of an equivalent copper-based heat pipe, whilst
costs in some cases are higher than copper-based heat pipes.