Polymeric heat pipe wick

Abstract

A wick for use in a capillary loop pump heat pipe is described. The wick material is an essentially uniformly porous, permeable, open-cell, polyethylene thermoplastic foam having an ultrahigh average molecular weight of from approximately 1 to 5 million, and an average pore size of about 10 to 12 microns. A representative material having these characteristics is POREX UF, which has an average molecular weight of about 3 million. This material is fully compatible with the FREONs and anhydrous ammonia and allows for the use of these very efficient working fluids in capillary loops.