Large-scale thermal spreading solution: A synergistic design of aluminum roll-bond flat vapor chamber with embedded spiral woven mesh wick

Abstract

Vapor chamber demonstrates exceptional temperature regulation capabilities, making them a promising solution for efficient thermal management in applications such as electronic device cooling and aerospace heat dissipation. Aluminum-based roll-bond flat vapor chamber (RBFVC) is easy to fabricate for large-area applications. However, the absence of wicks in conventional RBFVC hinders the effective circulation of the working fluid, thereby restricting its heat transfer capacity for large-scale applications. To address this limitation, this study introduces a novel RBFVC with embedded aluminum spiral woven mesh wick (RBFVC-ASWM), featuring a vapor–liquid coplanar structure. The newly developed RBFVC-ASWM demonstrates exceptional scalability through its large-area dimensional configuration (590 mm × 290 mm base area) and ultra-thin structural profile (2.06 mm thickness), achieving a breakthrough in confined-space thermal solutions. The embedded ASWM wick enables a higher capillary climbing height and wicking coefficient. Under horizontal conditions, the RBFVC-ASWM with 40 % filling ratio owns the minimum thermal resistance and maximum effective thermal conductivity, which are 0.37℃/W and 1922.78 W/(m⋅K), respectively. Under gravity-assisted conditions, the RBFVC-ASWM with a 20 % filling ratio achieves the lowest temperature difference (2.9℃), thermal resistance (0.0082℃/W) and highest effective thermal conductivity (86833.24 W/(m⋅K)). With an increased filling ratio to 60 %, the highest heat flux dissipation capacity rises to 480 W while the average evaporator temperature reaches up to 61.8℃. RBFVC-ASWM shows better thermal performance than RBFVC-NW (with no wick) and stability under pulsed loads. This research provides a transformative approach to enhance the performance of RBFVC by embedding ASWM wick, offering a scalable, cost-effective, and efficient solution for large-area and ultra-thin heat dissipation systems.