Electronic components, especially CPUs and GPUs in computers, need an efficient cooling system to prevent overheating. A vapour chamber is one such cooling system that has gained ground in the last decade. Here is everything you need to know about it.
Modern electronic refrigeration
Vapour cooling system is a type of heat dissipation technology that uses the evaporation and condensation of liquids to cool an electronic component . Vapour cooling system sometimes integrate with heat sinks to aid in the cooling process.
Most of the time you will find Vapour cooling system in high performance laptops and smartphones. But it is also used in servers and LED products. Because it can absorb and dissipate large amounts of heat, Vapour cooling system cooling is very useful in high heat flux applications.
How does a vapour chamber work?
A vapour chamber is basically a flat metal enclosure with a wick structure lining. It is filled with a small amount of liquid, usually water, and sealed under vacuum. The low pressure within the Vapour cooling system allows the fluid to vaporize at temperatures below its normal boiling point.
So when the Vapour cooling system heats by an electronic component, like your computer’s processor, the liquid vaporizes. This vapor then circulates by convection and moves freely in the enclosure. And when it finds a cooler surface, it condenses and dissipates the absorbed heat. The condensed liquid then moves through the wick material and returns to the hotter side. And this process continues as long as the electronic component is hot.
Although copper is commonly used in the construction of vapour chambers, you will also find aluminum, steel, and titanium vapour chambers on the market. Similarly, some vapour chambers have a metal mesh as the wick structure, while others use sintered metal. And finally, although water is the most commonly useful liquid in vapour chambers, methanol and ammonia these were also useful.
vapour chamber vs traditional heat pipe
Like a Vapour cooling system, a heat pipe is also a heat dissipation technology in modern electronics. However, although the vapour chamber and the heat pipe have the same working principle, they have several differences.
One of the main differences is that a vapour chamber transfers heat in two dimensions, while a heat pipe only moves heat in one direction. As a result, vapour chambers are effective at evenly distributing heat over a surface, while heat pipes are more suited to transporting heat from one location to another.
- Vapour cooling systems also take up less space than heat pipes, making them ideal for tight, confined areas such as smartphones and tablets.
- However, although heat pipes take up more space, they are relatively more flexible. Because they are flexible, heat pipes suits best for situations where heat needs to be moving to a remote condenser.
- Also, the flat shape of a vapor cooling systems allows it to have better contact with a heat source or a heat sink. On the other hand, the cylindrical shape of heat pipes makes it difficult to connect them directly to a heat source.
- For this reason, they often placed on metal blocks to give them heat. Device manufacturers also sometimes flatten the heat pipes into oval shapes for better contact with the heat source, but multiple heat pipes may still need to cover a large area.
- Finally, heat pipes are very cost effective, while vapour chambers are expensive to produce. This is why you will find vapor cooling system mostly on high-end devices.
Should I go for vapor cooling system refrigeration?
- As a consumer, you will find vapor cooling system in various devices such as desktop CPU coolers, GPU coolers, gaming consoles, smartphones, and laptops.
- While you stick with the cooling system a manufacturer has included in smartphones, laptops, or gaming consoles, vapor cooling system ensures you have better thermal efficiency, which translates to overall performance. improved.
- But when you’re building a PC, you have the option of choosing the cooling system that best suits your needs. And whether or not you should opt for a CPU cooler or a vapor cooling system cooled GPU depends on your budget and usage.
- For example, suppose you plan to overclock your processor and it has a high TDP (Thermal Design Power). In this case, a vapor cooling system cooled CPU cooler is definitely a good option, especially if you don’t want to go for active liquid cooling.
- This will help you get the most out of your processor’s performance and avoid thermal throttling. But if your processor has a low TDP and you don’t dabble in overclocking, vapor cooling system won’t make much of a difference. The same goes for the GPU.
- Also, products with vapor cooling system will cost significantly more than those that only use heat pipes or solid metal blocks. So, consider your computer needs and budget, then decide.
