The Thermacore heat pipes provide industry-leading performance and have received strong market acceptance both domestically and overseas since their introduction in May 1995. Production rates currently exceed 1,000 units per day and are expected to pass 5,000 per day by the spring of 1995. A heat pipe is a highly efficient heat transfer device that moves heat from point to point with little loss in temperature. It requires no external power for its operation. Other cooling techniques require battery power to run a fan or thermoelectric, which ultimately reduces the useful operating time of the laptop.
Heat is carried within the heat pipe by evaporation and condensation of a fluid.
Condensate is returned to the evaporator by means of a capillary pump, or wick. Thermacore includes a specially prepared powder metal wick in these heat pipes so the user of a notebook computer can operate the computer in any position without loss of performance. Although much of the underlying technology was acquired on an SBIR contract with the government, Thermacore has used its own funds to adapt the technology to the commercial marketplace, to develop the manufacturing processes and to build a factory to mass-produce the products. Pictured is a variety of heat pipe geometries available for use in notebook computers. Please mention that you read about it in Innovation .