熱管於電腦產業中主要用於散熱。電子元件因為電阻與能量耗損的作用，會持續發熱，而電腦中的電子元件隨著技術發展越來越小型化，隨之而來的散熱需求也日益增加，因而開始大量使用原本應用於太空梭、飛機與飛彈等之熱管技術。現今熱管在電腦產業使用已經極為廣泛，通常會搭配散熱鰭片與風扇組合成散熱模組，裝置於桌上型電腦、筆記型電腦、顯示卡等設備中，並會依用途與機械結構需求之不同而有不同的設計方式。英特爾公司於1993年申請之05339214專利首先結合熱管散熱模組進行電腦散熱，解決了小型化電子元件因為提高運算速度而與日俱增的發熱問題，並奠定往後的電腦散熱設計的基礎。本研究以熱管專利作為研究的標的，以科學方法探討熱管領域之發展過程。
本研究透過WEBPAT專利資料庫搜集熱管領域從1976至2018年的美國專利共4596筆，再運用主路徑分析觀察熱管領域之專利技術發展軌跡。本研究發現，熱管最初使用於航太相關的電子元件，之後由電子元件製造商英特爾公司發表對中央處理器為主的熱管之電腦散熱方式，繼而廣泛的應用於電腦中的伺服器、個人桌上型電腦與筆記型電腦之中，並由電腦代工廠大量延伸相關技術。本研究可供電腦設備相關廠商深入瞭解各國關於熱管專利的發展主軸以及技術類型與發展方向，作為熱管專利規劃佈局之參考。

Heat pipes are mainly used for heat dissipation in the computer industry. Electronic components will continue to generate heat due to resistance and energy consumption. With the development of technology, electronic components in computers are becoming more and more miniaturized, and the demand for heat dissipation is also increasing. Therefore, they have begun to be used in space shuttles. , Airplanes and missiles, etc. heat pipe technology. Heat pipes are widely used in the computer industry. They are usually combined with heat dissipation fins and fans to form a heat dissipation module, which is installed in desktop computers, notebook computers, graphics cards, etc., and will vary according to the use and mechanical structure requirements. Way of design. The 05339214 patent filed by Intel Corporation in 1993 first combines heat pipes with heat dissipation modules to dissipate computer heat, which solves the problem of increasing heat generation due to miniaturization of electronic components and increased computing speed, and lays the foundation for future computer heat dissipation designs. . This research takes the patent of heat dissipation technology "heat pipe", which is indispensable for computer industry applications, as the subject of the research. Exploring the development process in the field of heat pipes with scientific methods.
This research uses WEBPAT to collect 4,596 US patents related to the heat pipe field from 1976 to 2018, and then uses main path analysis to observe the development trajectory and process of patented technology in the heat pipe field. This study found that the heat pipe in the main path was originally used For aerospace-related electronic components, the electronic component manufacturer Intel later published a computer heat dissipation method for the CPU-based heat pipe, which was then widely used in computer servers, personal desktop computers, and notebook computers. Among them, computer foundries continue to develop a large number of related heat pipe patents. And from the main path to explore the development axis of each country's patents, and analyze the layout of heat pipe patents based on the types and development directions of the companies in each country.

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