Effects of functional surface on performance of a micro heat pipe

The effect of a functional surface with the axial ladder contact angle distribution on the thermal performance of a triangular micro heat pipe has been analyzed based on a one-dimensional steady-state model. Compared with the traditional micro heat pipe (MHP) with a uniform contact angle distribution on its surface, the simulation results show that a MHP with a functional surface can remove a greater amount of heat under the same condition. The increase in thermal performance is more obvious with the increase in the ladder difference of the contact angles between the adjacent sections of the MHP. The increased thermal performance associated with the functional surface can be attributed to the increase of the liquid capillary force as well as the no obvious increase of the liquid shearing force provided by the functional surface, which also brings about the increase in condensate mass flow rate through the adiabatic section–evaporation section interface. It is also found that for the traditional MHP with uniform contact angle surface, there is an optimal contact angle leading to the maximum heat input. The deviation of the optimal value will decrease the capillary force and thermal performance of the MHP.