Pressure balanced heat pipe

Claim 1

A pressure-balanced heat pipe comprising a uniform temperature enclosure for transferring heat from an input portion to an output portion thereof, said enclosure shaped as an annulus having an outer wall comprising said input portion and an inner wall comprising said output portion, said inner wall defining a work-heating volume for containing work to be heated by said heat pipe, said enclosure having an opening formed therein, a hollow stem appended to said enclosure and communicating with said enclosure by way of said opening, cooling means disposed about said stem for creating a temperature gradient along a length thereof upon the application of a predetermined amount of heat to said input portion of said enclosure, an expansible chamber connected to said stem, a quantity of working fluid normally disposed as a liquid within said chamber and primarily as a liquid within said stem and primarily as a vapor within said enclosure and a wick disposed within said enclosure for transferring liquid working fluid from said output portion to said input portion, whereby an increase of ambient pressure about said heat pipe after said application of a predetermined amount of heat to the input portion thereof results in a comparable increase of internal pressure within said heat pipe.

Claim 8

A method of operating a heat pipe at high ambient pressures such as about 1000 psi and at high temperatures such as about 1600 degrees Kelvin without utilizing heat pipe walls capable of supporting large pressure differentials comprising, in the order given, the steps of: (a) forming a heat pipe enclosure with an evaporator section, a condenser section, a wick to transport liquid working fluid from the condenser section to the evaporator section, and a hollow stem connected to an opening in the base of the enclosure and having an expansible chamber at its lower end; (b) sealing within the heat pipe a selected amount of working fluid having a vapor pressure, at the operating temperature of the heat pipe, at least as high as the ambient operating pressure surrounding the heat pipe; (c) applying heat to said heat pipe to raise the temperature of the working fluid to said operating temperature; (d) cooling said hollow stem at an area near said expansible chamber to establish a temperature gradient along said hollow stem; and (e) increasing the ambient pressure surrounding the heat pipe to said operating pressure thereby causing the volume of said expansible chamber to decrease until the internal pressure of said heat pipe is substantially in balance with said ambient operating pressure.

Claim 9

A method of operating a heat pipe at high ambient pressures such as about 1000 psi and at high temperatures such as about 1600 degrees Kelvin without utilizing heat pipe walls capable of supporting large pressure differentials comprising, in the order given, the steps of: (a) forming a heat pipe enclosure with an evaporator section, a condenser section, a wick to transport liquid working fluid from the condenser section to the evaporator section, and a hollow stem connected to an opening in the base of the enclosure and having an expansible chamber at its lower end; (b) sealing within the heat pipe a selected amount of working fluid having a vapor pressure, at the operating temperature of the heat pipe, at least as high as the ambient operating pressure surrounding the heat pipe; (c) applying heat to said heat pipe to raise the temperature of the working fluid to said operating temperature; (d) cooling said hollow stem at an area near said expansible chamber to establish a temperature gradient along said hollow stem; and (e) increasing the ambient pressure surrounding the heat pipe to said operating pressure thereby causing the volume of said expansible chamber to decrease until the internal pressure of said heat pipe is substantially in balance with said ambient operating pressure.