Heatcolumn heatpipes are slightly different from the standard 6-10mm diameter heatpipes we are used to seeing, and typically start off at 25mm in diameter or thicker. According to documentation by QuTech, heat column heatpipes are essentially empty cylinders of copper coated internally with a thin superconducting heat transfer medium. The copper cylinder is sealed off at both ends, and inside is under a vacuum of approximately 1 Torr.

Patent no. 6,132,823 explains QuTech's very interesting and potentially revolutionary process to the topic of heatpipes, entitled Superconducting Heat Transfer Medium . Here is a short excerpt from the patent which explains the technology in plain english, but feel free to skip ahead to the actual heatsink review.

"Inorganic Medium Thermal Conductive Device. This heat conducting device greatly improved the heat conductive abilities of materials over their conventional state. Experimentation has shown this device capable of transferring heat along a sealed metal shell having a partial vacuum therein at a rate of 5,000 meters per second.

On the internal wall of the shell is a coating applied in three steps having a total optimum thickness of 0.012 to 0.013 millimeters. Of the total weight of the coating, strontium comprises 1.25%, beryllium comprises 1.38%, and sodium comprises 1.95%....

The fact that a conventional heat pipe shares a similar outside shape to a thermal superconductive heat pipe used to raise some misunderstandings. Therefore, it is necessary to give a brief description on the differences and similarities of the two. A convectional heat pipe makes use of the technique of liquids vaporizing upon absorbing great amounts of heat and vapors cooling upon emitting heat so as to bring the heat from the pipe's hot end to its cold end. The axial heat conducting velocity of the heat pipe depends on the value of the liquid's vaporization potent heat and the circulation speed between two forms of liquid and vapor. The axial heat conducting velocity of the heat pipe also is restrained by the type and quantity of the carrier material and the temperatures and pressures at which the heat pipe operates (it can not be too high).

The present superconductive heat transfer device is made of a thermal superconductive medium whose axial heat conduction is accomplished by the thermal superconductive mediums' molecules high speed movement upon being heated and activated. The present superconductive heat transfer device's heat conducting velocity is much higher than that of any metal bars or any convectional heat pipes of similar size, while its internal pressure is much lower than that of any convectional heat pipe of the same temperature."

While this heatpipe technology has surfaced on a few heatsinks we've tested already, it may be slower to adopt in spite of its otherwise promising attributes. Also, since most people would be hard pressed to explain what a heatpipe is, or does, the superconducting heatpipe, or heat column as we've taken to calling it around here, is probably going to continue to generate a lot of confusion.