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Prevco Heat Sink Pipes

Prevco have developed the use of Heat Sink Pipes to address the age-old problem of how to get heat out of a subsea enclosure.  They work by using a thermodynamic working fluid which is inside a sealed hollow thermally conductive tube, lined with a capillary structure or wick.  This method can transmit thermal energy at rates of one hundred times faster than through solid conductors.    

Heat pipes are essentially a closed evaporator-condenser system comprising sealed hollow tubes.  When heat is applied to one end of the heat pipe, the highly volatile liquid in the wick evaporates and the gas fills the heat pipe hollow center.  This diffuses throughout its length where the external portion of the heat sink pipe or radiator, releases heat into the ambient water.  Condensation takes place at the point of heat transfer and capillary action within the wick returns the condensate to the evaporator (heat source) and completes the operating cycle.  The PREVCO dual pipe design has a Copper Beryllium radiator exposed to sea water with approximately a ~250W capacity.  


Many things have been tried in the past including radial cooling fins on parts of the enclosure, active internal cooling pipes that pump the heat to an external exchanger, the use of different yet compatible metals to give better thermal conductivity and thermally coupling internal components to the tube and endcaps.  The heat sink pipe method has proven to be much more effective, with a better energy-to-weight ratio and can be less expensive that some other methods.  Note that these are also customisable to meet more exact requirements.



Our main business is the design and production of subsea pressure vessels.  Most of what we do is custom so that we can meet our customers’ needs more exactly and we use a range of tried and tested materials such as Aluminium, Stainless Steel, Titanium and Copper Beryllium.  We also have a range of Off-the-Shelf housings in Aluminium and PVC with depth ranges from 100m – 2100m.  These can be cost-saving and quicker to produce than custom designs and are ideal if they meet the customers’ dimensional and depth requirements.  


+44 (0) 1892 731528



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