A review of heat pipe technology for foldable electronic devices

Abstract

The advent of foldable and wearable devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold (2019) and Huawei Mate X (2019), require increased battery size and processor performance to drive their larger flexible displays. There is a growing need to develop flexible thermal management solutions to cool these foldable electronic devices. This research presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art for both rigid and flexible ultra-thin heat pipe technology. This review discusses various types of heat pipes, their thermal performance, novel manufacturing processes, and the open research questions, challenges, together with the potential future directions of this research area.