Ultra thin two phase heat exchangers with structural wick

Abstract

Methods and system are provided for a heat exchanger. In one example, a system, comprises a mobile electronic device comprising a front cover and a rear cover, a heat exchanger arranged between the front cover and the rear cover, the heat exchanger comprising a fluid chamber arranged between an inner surface of a first plate and an inner surface of a second plate, and a wick material arranged within the fluid chamber, the wick material comprising a sintered material configured to allow a plurality of fluid passages to extend therethrough.

1 . A heat exchanger, comprising:
 a fluid chamber arranged between inner surfaces of a first plate and a second plate, an outer face of the first plate which defines a first surface of the heat exchanger, and an outer peripheral sealing surface on the inner face of the first plate, wherein an outer face of the second plate defines a second surface of the heat exchanger, wherein an outer peripheral sealing surface of the second plate is sealingly coupled with the outer peripheral surface of the first plate; and   a wick material formed from sintered metallic particles, the wick material arranged inside the fluid chamber between the inner face of the first plate and the inner face of the second plate, a sheet of the wick material having first and second opposed outer surfaces, and wherein the first outer surface of the wick material is in contact with the inner face of the first plate and the second outer surface of the wick material is in contact with the inner face of the second plate.   
     
     
         2 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein a heat-generating device is in a face-sharing contact with the outer face of the first plate. 
     
     
         3 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein an evaporation zone is arranged within the fluid chamber. 
     
     
         4 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the sheet of wick material comprises one or more reduced-height areas. 
     
     
         5 . The heat exchanger of  claim 4 , wherein a metal is arranged within the one or more reduced-height areas. 
     
     
         6 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein an evaporation zone is arranged within the fluid chamber. 
     
     
         7 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein a conductive patch is arranged within the fluid chamber. 
     
     
         8 . The heat exchanger of  claim 7 , wherein the conductive patch is in face-sharing contact with the inner face of the first plate. 
     
     
         9 . The heat exchanger of  claim 8 , wherein the conductive patch comprises copper or nickel. 
     
     
         10 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the first plate and the second plate comprise stainless steel. 
     
     
         11 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the wick material comprises sintered material including copper or nickel and wherein a non-wick material comprises a non-porous strip of metal. 
     
     
         12 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of fluid passages extends through sintered portion of the wick material, wherein the plurality of fluid passages is configured to convey a fluid through the fluid chamber. 
     
     
         13 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger is arranged within a mobile electronic device including a laptop, a smartphone, a cell phone, a tablet, a pager, and a personal digital assistant.