Thermal performance of finned heat pipe system for Central Processing Unit cooling

This study reports on the thermal performances of a finned air-cooled heat pipe system for CPU cooling. The cooling system includes an aluminum base, three grooved heat pipes, and fins. Experiments are carried out in order to determine the overall thermal resistance of the cooling system in different positions (horizontal, thermosyphon, and anti-gravity positions) under different heat loads. The tests indicate that the overall thermal resistance is the lowest for the thermosyphon position and it is hardly affected by the heat input power. If we consider that the safe operation of the CPU is under continuous junction temperature lower than 90 degrees C, the cooling system enables to remove heat powers as high as 150 W, 100 W, and 50 W for the thermosyphon, horizontal, and anti-gravity positions, respectively. Modeling of the cooling system allows for the determination of the temperature distribution. The comparison between the experimental temperatures along the heat pipes and those computed indicates a good agreement for heat loads that are lower than the capillary limit.