Heatpipes

[furnace]

I've heard a few people saying that heatpipes have liquid in - I always thought that they're just hollow copper pipes, though..?

Or do they work like this:

Sure if they worked like that, when you shake your cooler you would hear liquid in the heatpipes?

Just looking for some clarification!

 

[JeffyB]

That is the basic principle, many heatpipes on mobos as of late are completely hollow though and dont actually work as a propper heatpipe does.

 

[Starfall]

They are charged with a refrigerant, usually r134a.

At the heat sink the refrigerant has energy removed and partially condenses, the dense gas / liquid mix "falls" back down to the heat source.

At the heat source the refrigerant gains energy from the CPU and becomes gas state, rising to the heat sink above the denser gas / liquid.

A hollow heat pipe would do nothing - How do you proove it's hollow, cut it open?!

 

[MeddlE]

A lot of the newer heatsinks use water as the liquid in their heatpipes. They also have a central 'wick' so that pipe orientation does not matter.

 

[Zefan]

Proper heatpipes do have liquid inside, you won't hear it unless they've done something stupid and not filled it 100%.