Graded pore size heat pipe wick

Claim 1

A heat pipe comprising: a hermetic casing having interior evaporator and condenser regions and a vapor flow space communicating said regions, a heat transfer fluid within said casing for transporting heat from said evaporator region to said condenser region by a closed thermodynamic cycle involving evaporation of said fluid to the vapor phase in said evaporator region in response to heat input to the latter region, flow of the vapor phase through said flow space to and condensation of the vapor phase to the liquid phase within said condenser region in response to heat rejection from the latter region, and return of the liquid phase to said evaporator region, a porous capillary structure for conducting said liquid phase from said condenser region to said evaporator region by capillary action, said porous structure containing a myriad of capillary pores extending throughout the interior of said structure for conducting said liquid phase from said condenser region to said evaporator region and opening through the surface of said structure to said vapor space, whereby pores at said structure surface contain liquid/vapor interfaces, and the pore size of said porous structure being graded to diminish along said structure from said condenser region to said evaporator region in a manner such that at any given cross section of said structure transverse to the direction of liquid flow through said structure from said condenser region to said evaporator region, said pores are relatively uniformly sized to provide a local capillary-pressure limit at said cross section at least equaling the difference between the liquid pressure in the structure at said cross section and the vapor pressure in said vapor space during heat pipe operation at a given maximum rate of heat transfer.