BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, and in particular an apparatus for rapidly and massively measuring the heat transfer performance of heat pipes.
2. Description of Prior Art
After heat pipes are completely manufactured, in order to make sure of the quality of the heat pipes manufactured in mass production, each heat pipe should be measured first the capacity of heat transfer to determine whether the expected performance of heat transfer is achieved. However, since the conventional measuring instruments or apparatuses have some problems, such as high in price, complicated in operation and time-consuming in measurement, such measuring method cannot be practicably applied to all the heat pipes manufactured in mass production, and only some of them can be sampled and measured. After the sampling measurement of the heat pipes manufactured in mass production, the measured results are calculated to determine whether those heat pipes have conformed to the standard, thereby to control the quality of the heat pipes.
However, in order to further improve the quality control of the heat pipes manufactured in mass production, the above sampling measurement is not practicable enough. Therefore, only applying the measurement to each heat pipe and sifting out the bad ones can guarantee the quality of each heat pipe. However, in consideration of the time cost spent in quality control, it is apparent that the existing measuring instruments and apparatuses apparently cannot conform to the rapid and one-by-one measurement.
In view of the above, the inventor proposes the present invention to overcome the above
problems based on his expert experiences and deliberate researches.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is to provide an apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, which is capable of reducing the time spent in measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, rapidly performing the measurement of a heat pipe, and suiting to the one-by-one measurement to sift out the bad ones.
The present invention provides an apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, which is used to measure the capacity of heat transfer of a heat pipe and comprises a clamping device, a temperature-sensing device and a cooling and circulating system. The clamping device further comprises a clamping body having a clamping portion for clamping one end of the heat pipe. The clamping portion is provided with a heating unit thereon. The cooling and circulating system is provided with a water tank for cooling the other end of the heat pipe. The temperature-sensing device is connected to the clamping portion of the clamping body via a temperature-sensing line, thereby to measure whether the temperature of the end to be heated of the heat pipe conforms to the standard and determine whether the heat transfer performance of the heat pipe is normal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the clamping device of the present invention taken from another view angle; and
Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the additional provision of a plurality of clamping devices of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In order to make the Examiner better understand the characteristics and the technical contents of the present invention, a detailed description relating to the present invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the drawings are illustrative but not used to limit the scope of the present invention.
Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the clamping device of the present invention taken from another view angle. The present invention provides an apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, which is capable of rapidly measuring the capacity of heat transfer of a heat pipe 4. The apparatus comprises a clamping device 1, a temperature-sensing device 2 and a cooling and circulating system 3.
The clamping device 1 is constituted of a supporting arm 10 and a clamping body 11 connected on the supporting arm 10. The supporting arm 10 is used for holding the clamping device 1 in a fixing position so as to make the clamping body 11 under a hanging state. In the embodiment of the present invention, the supporting arm 10 is provided at its fixing position with a horizontally sliding seat 100 for adjusting the horizontal position of the clamping device 1. The clamping body 11 further comprises at least two clamping handles 110 and an elastic element 111 (as shown in Fig. 2). The two clamping handles 110 oppose to each other and each is formed at its both ends with a twisting portion 112 and a clamping claw 112, respectively. Adjacent to the twisting portion 112, pivoting portions 114 mating with each other are provided. A pivoting shaft 115 is pivoted to both pivoting portions 112. The elastic element 111 is provided on the pivoting shaft 115. The elastic element 111 can be a torsion spring and both ends thereof abut against the positions adjacent to the twisting portions 112 inside the two clamping handles 110. With the above arrangement, a clamping body 11 having an elastic clamping force is obtained. When the hand of a user presses on the twisting portions 112 of the two clamping handles 110, the clamping claws 113 of the two clamping handles 110 are opened.
After releasing, the clamping claws can be closed to maintain a clamping state. Therefore, the clamping body 11 can be constituted of a clamping portion having at least two clamping claws 113.
With both clamping claws 113 of the clamping body 11, the clamping device 1 can be clamped on one end of the heat pipe 4. The interior of the two clamping claws 113 is provided with heating units 110. The heating unit 116 has a qonstant power of heating. Both clamping claws 113 are made of materials having good heat conductivity. When the clamping body 11 clamps the heat pipe 4, the heat generated by the heating unit 116 can be conducted to the heat pipe 4 via the two clamping claws 113, thereby to supply heat to the heat pipe 4. On the contacting surface between the clamping claw 113 and the heat pipe 4, a layer of oil film or oil can be applied to increase the contacting effect with the heat pipe 4. Further, an angle-adjusting mechanism 101 is provided between the supporting arm 10 and the clamping body 11. The angle-adjusting mechanism 101 can be a bolt for bolting in a position between the supporting arm 10 and the clamping body 11. In this way, the inclination of the clamping body 11 can be properly adjusted to clamp a straight or curved heat pipe 4 (a curved heat pipe is used in the present embodiment).
The temperature-sensing device 2 substantially comprises a power switch 20, a temperature-measuring line 21, a displayer 22 and an alarm 23. The temperature-measuring line 21 is connected to both clamping claws 113 of the clamping body 11, so that both clamping claws 113 receive the temperature signals and transmit those signals to the displayer 22 to display the measured temperature value. Since the remaining portions of the temperature-measuring device 2 are related to circuit arrangement and do not fall within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the description thereof is omitted for clarity.
The cooling circulating system 3 is used to dissipate the heat of the other end of the heat pipe 4 and comprises a water tank 30 positioned beneath the clamping body 11 and a cooling water
generator 31. The water tank 30 has a water inlet 330 and a water outlet 301. The cooling water generator 31 feeds the cooling water via the water inlet 300 of the water tank 30. After the water within the water tank 30 has been subjected to heat exchange, the heat-exchanged water can be drained back to the cooling water generator 31 via the water outlet 301 of the water tank 30, so that the cooling water generator 31 can reproduce the cooling water and further form a cooling circulation. Moreover, the water tank 30 is designed to allow the other end of the heat pipe 4 to be arranged in a non-contact manner, thereby to perform the cooling operation. In this way, the damage caused by the clamping force of the mechanical structure can be reduced. The interior of the water tank 30 is further divided into three portions including an inlet region 302 having the water inlet 300, a cooling region 303 for dissipating the heat of the other end of the heat pipe 4, and a draining region 304 having the water outlet 301. A first partition 305 is provided between the inlet region 302 and the cooling region 303, and a second partition 306 is provided between the cooling region 303 and the draining region 304. The first partition 305 is located higher than the second partition 306. As a result, the water level in the inlet region 302 is higher than that in the cooling region 303, and the water level in the cooling region 303 is higher than that hi the draining region 304. Therefore, the water within the water tank 30 can flow naturally to increase the efficiency of cooling circulation.
Further, the water tank 30 is provided with a bracket 32 thereon. A height-adjusting mechanism 320 can be provided between the bracket 32 and the water tank 30. The height-adjusting mechanism 320 can be a bolt for bolting in the position between the water tank 30 and the bracket 32. The clamping body 11 holds the height of one end of the heat pipe 11, so that the height of the position for supporting one end of the heat pipe 4 can be adjusted, thereby to support the heat pipe 4 by the bracket 32. The interior of the water tank 30 is provided with a base 33. The base 33 exactly abuts against the other end of the heat pipe 4 so as to support the heat pipe 4. In this way, the sliding of the heat pipe 4 caused by the accidental loosening of the
clamping body 11 can be prevented.
Therefore, with the above construction, the apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe in accordance with the present invention can be obtained.
Therefore, when the heating unit 116 of the clamping device 1 supplies heat to the heat pipe 4, since the heat power supplied by the heating unit 116 can be set to a constant value. Therefore, if the heat pipe 4 is a qualified one capable of normally performing the heat exchange, the heat supplied to one end of the heat pipe 4 by the heating unit 116 can be conducted to the other end of the heat pipe 4. After the cooling and circulating system 3 cools down the other end of the heat pipe 4, the heat pipe 4 can repeatedly perform the heat exchange. Therefore, the end to be heated of the heat pipe 4 can be maintained to a constant temperature value. The temperature value is transmitted as a signal to the displayer 22 via the temperature-measuring line 21 of the temperature-measuring device 2. Moreover, the temperature-measuring device 2 can set a standard temperature value via the control circuit. When the temperature measured by the temperature-measuring line 21 does not exceed the standard value, a signal will not be sent to the alarm 23. On the contrary, if the heat pipe 4 is a bad one unable to normally perform the heat exchange, the heat supplied to the heat pipe 4 by the heating unit 116 cannot be efficiently conducted. As a result, the heat will be accumulated in the end to be heated of the heat pipe 4 and cause the continuous rise in temperature. At this time, this high temperature is transmitted to and displayed on the displayer 22 via the temperature-measuring line 21. According to the displayed result, an inspector determines that such heat pipe is bad one. Alternatively, according to the standard temperature value predetermined by the internal circuit of the temperature-measuring device 2, if the measured temperature exceeds the standard value after comparison, a signal is sent to the alarm 23. Thus, the alarm 23 informs the inspector of a warning signal by means of light or sound, thereby to affirm the heat pipe as a bad one.
Further, as shown in Fig. 3, the present invention can simultaneously measure the
temperatures of a plurality of heat pipes 4 and further comprises a plurality of sets of clamping devices 1 and temperature-measuring devices 2 linearly arranged at intervals above the water tank 30 of the cooling and circulating system 3. When the measurement is to be performed, a number of heat pipes 4 are clamped on the clamping devices 1 in order, and the temperature measurement of each heat pipe 4 can be performed in the order of arrangement. When the first heat pipe 4 to be measured has completed the test, each heat pipe 4 is then unloaded in the above order of arrangement and classified according to good or bad. Thereafter, next batch of heat pipes 4 are measured based on the above steps. Therefore, the time spent in measuring single heat pipe 4 can be greatly reduced, thereby to facilitate the one-by-one measurement of massive heat pipes 4.
Therefore, with the apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of the heat pipe, the temperature measurement of the heat pipe 4 can be rapidly performed to examine and distinguish the good ones from the bad ones. Further, the present invention can be suitable for measuring and sifting out a number of heat pipes one-by-one, thereby to improve the quality of the products manufactured in mass production.
According to the above, the present invention indeed achieves the desired effects and overcomes the drawbacks of prior art by employing the above structures. Therefore, the present invention involves the novelty and inventive steps, and conforms to the requirements for a utility model patent.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiment, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still be occurred to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. An apparatus for measuring heat transfer performance of a heat pipe, capable of measuring
capacity of heat transfer of the heat pipe, comprising:
a clamping device comprising a clamping body having a clamping portion for clamping one end of the heat pipe, the clamping portion provided with a heating unit thereon;
a temperature-sensing device comprising a temperature-measuring line, the temperature-measuring line connected on the clamping portion of the clamping body; and
a cooling and circulating system comprising a water tank for cooling the other end of the heat pipe.
2. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 1, wherein the clamping body of the clamping device further comprises at least two
clamping handles and an elastic element, the two clamping handles are provided at both ends
thereof with a twisting portion and a clamping claw, the two clamping claws constitute the
clamping portion, the two clamping handles are each provided with a pivoting portion for mating
with each other, a pivoting shaft is pivoted to the two pivoting portions, and the elastic element is
provided on the pivoting shaft.
3. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 2, wherein the heating unit of the clamping device is provided in the two clamping claws,
and the two clamping claws are made of materials having good heat conductivity.
4. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 2, wherein the elastic element is a torsion spring, and both ends thereof abut against the
positions adjacent to the twisting portion inside the two clamping handles, respectively.
5. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 1, wherein the clamping device further comprises a supporting arm, and the clamping body
is connected on the supporting arm.
6. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 5, wherein the supporting arm is provided with a horizontally sliding seat thereon.
7. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 5, wherein an angle-adjusting mechanism is provided between the supporting arm and the
clamping body.
8. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 7, wherein the angle-adjusting mechanism is a bolt provided between the supporting arm
and the clamping body.
9. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 1, wherein the temperature-sensing device further comprises a power switch, a displayer
and an alarm.

10. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 1, wherein the cooling and circulating system further comprises a cooling water generator,
the water tank has a water inlet and a water outlet, the cooling water generator feeds the cooling
water via the water inlet, and the water is drained back to the cooling water generator via the
water outlet.
11. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 10, wherein an interior of the water tank is divided into an inlet region having the water
inlet, a cooling region and a draining region having the water outlet, and wherein a first partition
is provided between the inlet region and the cooling region, a second partition is provided
between the cooling region and the draining region, and the first partition is located higher than
the second partition.
12. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 10, wherein the water tank is further provided with a bracket thereon.
13. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 12, wherein a height-adjusting mechanism is provided between the bracket and the water tank.
14. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 13, wherein the height-adjusting mechanism is a bolt provided between the water tank and
the bracket.
15. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 10, wherein the interior of the water tank is further provided with a base.
16. The apparatus for measuring the heat transfer performance of a heat pipe according to
claim 10, further comprising a plurality of the clamping devices and the temperature-measuring
devices arranged at intervals above the water tank of the cooling and circulating system.