When it comes to cooling things like transistors or chip amps, is using heat pipes or vapor chambers (while a little overkill I admit) an option? The only issue I could think of would be the noise from the liquid boiling inside them, but I'm not sure so I figured I would ask.
Definitely an option. Heat pipes can only move heat around, not dissipate it, so its a good choice when the heatsink has to be remote from the heat-source. The lining is porous to provide a capilliary path for liquid back-flow, the vapour will travel to the coolest end efficiently as there is no air to diffuse through. Note there are people selling plain copper bars as "heat pipes" on eBay, they will be hopeless by comparison. I think you can get genuine ones but how to be sure? Accurate weighing? cutting one open?
Heat pipes are often used in computers. I believe the problem for DIY is that the size and shape can't be changed.
Ed
Ed
Thank you very much for the explanation. I was thinking of using an old 1u xeon vapor chamber cooler for a small chip amp. I figured it's cheaper than scouring the internet for a custom solution.
They actually can be manipulated, but you need proper tooling for it. A lot of it is stuff you would need for it though you can get at a plumbing supply place. It's mostly tooling for bending things like small metal pipes
Heat pipes allow for high density construction. There is the possibility of very short conductor lengths to the output transistor array in high power applications. Problem is, it doesn't usually make much sense without forced air, so pipe to convection fin arrangements are rare, although it's been done in consumer audio gear since ages ago. It never got real popular since you can't get cooler than the fin baseplate and piping the heat to them means the cases are going to be even hotter. That's why if you have the space you'd just mount the devices directly to the sink
Yes exactly. That's why I was going with vapor chamber. At that point, even without moving air that should be just fine.