ANL, Argonne, Illinois, USA
The basic problem for photon absorbers in a particle accelerator is to remove a large quantity of heat from a small space. Heat pipes and vapor chambers excel at precisely this so it is natural to consider them for the application. However, even though this technology has been proven to be an excellent thermal management solution for cooling everything from laptops to satellite shields in space, they have yet to be adopted for use in particle accelerators. The use of heat pipes and vapor chambers are thermal transport devices which work on the principle of capillary-force-driven two-phase flow. These devices are highly customizable and offer very high effective thermal conductivities (5,000-200, 000 W/m/K) depending on many factors including size, shape, and orientation. This paper discusses feasibility of the use of heat pipes and vapor chambers as the primary heat transport devices in particle accelerator photon absorbers. We discuss their limitations and advantages via careful consideration of analysis and simulation results assuming properties described in the literature and manufacturer specifications.
