Experimental study on the heat transfer performance of a vapour chamber with porous wick structures printed via metallic additive manufacturing

Two types of vapour chamber with integrated three-dimensionally (3D) printed wicks, namely a single-pore 3D printed wick vapour chamber and hybrid-pore 3D printed wick vapour chamber, were designed, printed, and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing VCs through metallic additive manufacturing. A water-cooling test system was established to study the temperature distribution, thermal resistance, and maximum heat transfer power of the VCs. The effects of the cooling-water temperature, heat source area, and hybrid-pore wick structure on the heat transfer performance of the VCs were explored. The results show that the vapour chamber with a 3D printed wick had efficient heat transfer in the range of 0-100 W. The cooling-water temperature greatly affected the heat transfer performance of the VCs. The 3D printed hybrid-pore wick improved the temperature uniformity and heat transfer of the VC. When P = 100 W, the thermal resistance of the hybrid-pore 3D printed wick vapour chamber was 0.077 degrees C/W at a cooling-water temperature T-w = 40 degrees C. The test results indicate that the application of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in fabricating high-performance VCs is feasible and provides more freedom in terms of customizing the heat transfer performance and integrating with the structural design of the heat source.