What’s in the heatpipe? NOTHING!

Peter G. 28 Oct, 2007 at 10:24pm ET Article published in Tech

These guys tore open perfectly good heatpipes only to find that HONOES TEH HEATPIPES R EMPTAY!

Comments

28 Oct 2007 ~ 11:54pm Thrax That's a really great article. I really was interested to read it
29 Oct 2007 ~ 12:13am Winfrey you sound so sarcastic thrax.;D
29 Oct 2007 ~ 12:39am Thrax But I'm being serious. I always wanted to know what was inside the heatpipes.
29 Oct 2007 ~ 2:25am NiGHTS Candy.

That was an interesting article, actually - particularly the patient bit.
29 Oct 2007 ~ 2:25am Leonardo

Clearly, not all heatpipes are made equal.

Their investigation continues. I'll enjoy following it. So what goes is a heatpipe if there is no fluid for to absorb heat energy? Pattern of problems? Have we all been suckers? Or did these guys happen by shear chance to procure different brands of cooling parts whose heat pipes were dry inside.?
29 Oct 2007 ~ 4:15am RWB Maybe the liquid is invisible to you mere puny humans...
29 Oct 2007 ~ 10:46am muddocktor

RWB wrote:

Maybe the liquid is invisible to you mere puny humans...

I think you are close, RWB. I saw this linked at OCForums yesterday and we all pretty much called :bs: on these knuckleheads. If the heatpipes contain water, then you might see a drop or 2 of water come out when cut but if they are using a liquid with a much lower vapor pressure such as acetone the mere fact of cutting the tubing probably has the liquid in vapor form. And listening for a pressure relief with their ears; with the incredibly small volume of a heatpipe tube would be very hard to hear unless the heatpipe tube was highly pressurised to start with. If these people want to actually do some testing that means anything, they need to go into a laboratory with controlled conditions and use some finer tools than a hacksaw, scissors and hands and have access to a gas chomatograph to actually have a chance of getting meaningful results.

That article is pretty much some bored idiots ruining perfectly good, working heatpipe sinks, IMO.
29 Oct 2007 ~ 10:57am mas0n ^^^kinda what I was thinking. I always assumed there was just a TINY amount of liquid, because any more and the pipes would pop under high heat...

Also, at room temperature, the liquid could be condensated on the pipes in a layer so thin it would be nearly impossible to see with a simple cut. I'd like to see some lengthwise cuts, and THEN I bet you'd be able to feel some sort of coating all over the inside of the pipes...

I might have to try this myself...
29 Oct 2007 ~ 1:13pm edcentric They are usually filled with low boiling point hydrocarbons, variations on butane, alcohol, or acetone are typical. There is very little fluid in them. When most of it is gas you still have to be at a safe working pressure.