3-D numerical and experimental models for flat and embedded heat pipes applied in high-end VGA card cooling system

The present study utilizes the three-dimension numerical and experimental methods to investigate the optimum thermal performance of a flat heat pipe-thermal module application in high-end VGA card cooling system, and compares that with a traditional copper metal based plate embedded three 6 mm diameter heat pipe-thermal module under three dissimilar inclination angles of 0°, 90° and 180°. The optimization for the thermal modules researches into various fin material, thickness and gap. Results show that the flat heat pipe-thermal module has the best thermal performance at high power GPU of 180 W and inclination angle of 180°. Simulation results show in good agreement with experimental results within 5%. Therefore, the thermal performance of a flat heat pipe-thermal module can be accurately simulated and analyzed by employed the manner introduced in this paper and is able to cope with the higher heat flux GPU over 62.5 W/cm2 in the future.