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  Heat pipeUSPTO Application #: 20060180296Title: Heat pipe Abstract: A heat pipe includes a hollow envelope, a wick bonded to an inner wall of the envelope, and a working fluid contained in a chamber inside the envelope. The wick is formed of sintering a plurality of first particles, which are made from copper, and a plurality of second particles, which are made from a material selected from the group consisting of silver, bismuth, indium, tin, and alloys thereof, together. (end of abstract) Agent: Browdy And Neimark, P.l.l.c. 624 Ninth Street, Nw - Washington, DC, US Inventor: Ying-Chieh Liu USPTO Applicaton #: 20060180296 - Class: 165104260 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Heat Exchange, Intermediate Fluent Heat Exchange Material Receiving And Discharging Heat, Liquid Fluent Heat Exchange Material, Utilizing Change Of State, Utilizing Capillary Attraction The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060180296. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates a heat pipe and more particularly, to such a heat pipe, which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] A regular heat pipe is generally comprised of a pipe body, a wick, and a working fluid. The pipe body is made from copper or copper alloy. The wick is sintered from copper powder and provided at the inside wall of the pipe body. Because the wick is a porous member having crevices, the working fluid can flow in the wick to achieve heat transfer by means of a capillary effect. [0005] However, because the melting point of copper is as high as 1083.degree. C., it is necessary to increase the temperature to about 900-1000 .degree. C. when sintering copper powder. This manufacturing process requires much working time, resulting in a high manufacturing cost. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a heat pipe, which is easy to fabricate, thereby effectively shorting the working time and reducing the manufacturing cost. [0007] To achieve this object of the present invention, the heat pipe comprises a hollow envelope having an inside wall and a chamber, a wick containing a plurality of first particles and a plurality of second particles sintered together, and a working fluid contained in the chamber of the envelope. The wick is bonded to the inside wall of the envelope. The first particles are substantially made from copper and the second particles are made from a material selected from the group consisting of silver, bismuth, indium, tin, and alloys thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0008] FIG. I is a perspective view of a heat pipe according to the present invention. [0009] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along line 2-2 of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0010] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a heat pipe 10 is shown comprised of a hollow envelope 20, an intermediate layer 30, a wick 40, a netting 50, and a working fluid 60. [0011] The hollow envelope 20 has a tubular shape, and is made from copper or its alloy, for example copper-silver alloy. The envelope 20 defines a chamber 22 therein. The intermediate layer 30, the wick 40 and the netting 50 are provided in proper order at the inside wall of the envelope 20. [0012] The intermediate layer 30 is formed of silver on the inside wall of the envelope 20 by electroplating. The intermediate layer 30 has a tubular shape. Alternatively, the intermediate layer 30 can be made from bismuth, indium, tin, or their alloy. [0013] The wick 40 comprises a plurality of first particles 41 and a plurality of second particles 42. The first particles 41 and the second particles 42 are sintered together. The wick 40 has a tubular shape. The first particles 41 are substantially made from copper or its alloy. The second particles 42 are made from silver or its alloy. Actually, the second particles 42 can be made from silver, bismuth, indium, tin, or their alloy. The first particles 41 and the second particles 42 have particle size within about 0.01 .mu.m to 15 .mu.m. [0014] The netting 50 is provided at the inner side of the wick 40. The netting 50 is made from copper-silver-phosphorus alloy in the shape of a tube. The mesh size of the netting 50 can be within about 100-325 meshes. [0015] The working fluid 60 can be pure water or any of a variety of other solutions. [0016] The working fluid 60 is received inside the envelope 20. By means of a capillary effect, the working fluid 60 is adhered to crevices in the wick 40 and the netting 50. [0017] Because the melting point of silver is 960.5 .degree. C., it simply needs to increase the temperature to about 700-900 .degree. C. when sintering the mixture of the first particles 41 and the second particles 42. When sintered, the second particles 42 are bonded to the first particles 41. The second particles 42 act as a bonding agent. Further, silver content lowers the melting point of the netting 50, allowing quick bonding of the wick 40 and the netting 50 during sintering. Silver in the intermediate layer 30 acts as a bonding agent, for enabling the wick 40 to be bonded to the envelope 20 at a low temperature (700-900.degree. C.). [0018] In other words, the wick 40 contains a certain amount of the second particles 42 that lowers the working temperature of sintering. Silver in the intermediate layer 30 enables the wick 40 to be positively bonded to the envelope 20 below 900.degree. C. The silver-contained netting 50 can also be positively bonded to the wick 40 below 900.degree. C. [0019] Therefore, the heat pipe according to the present invention can be made at a relatively lower working temperature. The fabrication procedure of the heat pipe according to the present invention is simple. Further, the invention saves much time in raising and lowering the temperature, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. Further, the invention also saves much sintering time. [0020] Further, the intermediate layer 30 is not imperative, and can be eliminated. Continue reading... Full patent description for Heat pipe Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Heat pipe patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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