HOW IT WORKS

In one embodiment of the technology, the externally heated CFV consists of multiple porous layers bound by a peripheral glaze. The top element, the orifice disc, is solid with an integral orifice and downward projecting ridges that contact the second element, the vapor generator, whose minute pores induce high capillary pressure. The third element, the insulator, consists of a larger-pored material that wicks liquid upward while resisting heat flow downward.

Heat applied to the top of the orifice disc conducts onto the vapor generator, where the expanding gas becomes pressurized. Because the layered construction prevents the gas from expanding downward, the only way out is through the orifice, where vapor escapes as a high-velocity jet. This ejected gas is replaced by a cooling flow of liquid, wicking into the insulator. The result is a dynamic equilibrium of heat flux, liquid flow, gas pressure and evolved gas.