Heat Pipes: Effective, Reliable Cooling Solutions

Boyd has pioneered heat pipe technology development and set the standard for two phase cooling solutions for over 50 years. Our broad expertise in heat pipe materials, fluids, constructions, and other thermal technologies makes Boyd the choice heat pipe designer and manufacturer for the most demanding and innovative applications.

Heat pipes utilize the high heat capacity of fluid phase change in a robust format, making them one of the most efficient and versatile thermal management technologies to reliably and quickly transport heat.

Heat pipes are made of three main components: a vacuum sealed shell or envelope, a working fluid, and a wick structure. The shell keeps the heat pipe working fluid vacuum sealed for decades of consistent heat transport. The working fluid changes phase in the application temperature range and must be compatible with the heat pipe shell and wick materials. The wick passively moves fluid through the heat pipe.

Heat pipes have an extremely effective high thermal conductivity. Solid conductors like aluminum, copper, graphite, and diamond have thermal conductivities ranging from 250 W/m•K to 1,500 W/m•K, but heat pipe effective thermal conductivity ranges from 5,000 W/m•K to 200,000 W/m•K. Heat pipes also transfer heat over relatively long distances.

Boyd has developed specialized heat pipes for challenging applications for over half a century. We have the broadest thermal management technology portfolio available today to uniquely integrate with heat pipe technology and invent creative thermal solutions that implement the best fit combination of technologies. Our engineering team’s experience coupled with proven manufacturing techniques enables Boyd to produce optimized and reliable heat pipe technologies to enhance your thermal system efficiency at scale.

Heat Pipes are designed and manufactured to move heat from a heat source or high heat flux region to a remote area. This functionality is ideal to remove heat from constrained or densely packed areas to regions with cooler air or more volume for air cooled heat sinks. With more design flexibility, product designers and architects can push product performance and layouts to enable some of the most challenging air cooled applications with a reliable, cost-effective solution.

Embedded heat pipes remove local hot spots, reduce heat buildup around electronic components, and improve air cooled heat sink efficiency by 20% (compared to aluminum or copper base spreaders) with faster, more even heat spreading. This is especially impactful in applications where the heat source is small relative to heat sink fin area, like electronics or computers. Bend or flatten heat pipes to meet thermal and geometric requirements, reduce overall height, increase surface contact, or route around keep-out areas like mounting hardware. Embedded heat spreading heat pipes give thermal architects more flexibility because they don’t require changing heat sink geometry, which is useful in retrofit applications or to increase the power of existing products.

Boyd’s broad heat pipe technology portfolio demonstrates our deep heat pipe expertise and heritage that you can leverage to maximize reliable thermal performance in any application.

High Temperature Heat Pipes provide high precision temperature control, rapid recovery, and more uniform management at high temperatures to reduce energy consumption and improve application reliability and longevity.

Variable Conductance Heat Pipes (VCHP) help engineers precisely control temperatures through controlled heat transport and rejection. They control evaporator temperature by using non-condensable gas (NCG) in the heat pipe, controlling the available condenser area. VCHPs are a cost-effective solution to maintain critical device temperatures without active components or sensors.