I don't see any heatpipes in the teardown
Maybe he thinks all the plated holes in the perf board are heat pipes. After-all, they're metallic and kind of pipe shaped
If you look at the pictures....and try to decipher Awesome14's comment....this is what I believe he is saying....
He has glued a piece of copper foil, between a diode, and the ref IC case....he is calling that a "heatpipe". Ok it's not. I think he is saying that he is cooking that poor little diode, and expecting that a thin piece of copper foil is somehow transferring enough thermal energy from the poor little diode (which is his "heater") to "stabilize" the REF IC. The efficiency of heat transfer across that piece of foil is nil. Also the diode is right next to a shit bottom of the barrel trimmer....which hasn't even had the wiper screw glued in place. So in essence he is creating more of a problem than solving one. The majority of heat (which is hardly any) is not traveling across the copper foil to the REF innards....it's just traveling, via convection, into the case of the trimmer.
Ok fine...even then I doubt this has any significant impact on anything in this circuit. If his theory is to heat the case of the REF then why not just take some nichrome wire...zig zag it across the top of the REF IC case....bond it thermally and run some current through it? That would be far more efficient than his method....and still that isn't the proper way to ovenize this package.
This all could be avoided...by simply designing a proper PCB....with a thermal layer...bonded to a TO (can) REF IC, in the dead bug config....bond the case of the TO package to the thermal layer with some thermal "grease"....and then bond a proper controlled heater to the thermal layer....just like everyone else does....
Instead he claims this is somehow innovative, and we are all too stupid too see it....I am sorry but I am all for helping people, but not when they act like some elitist and call everyone here inferior....ESPECIALLY when they have ZERO basis in their claims...NO data to prove anything and start talking about being handed circuit designs from God himself....throw in vampires, angles, and whatever other bullshit is flying out of this guys mouth, and I just don't feel like being nice anymore....
I said back on page one, that the REF102C is in fact an excellent monolithic ref IC.....I have worked with them many times, and if you hand select (bin) the IC, you can easily get better than 2ppm per year stability....out of the plastic package. No big deal there.
What I am amazed at is that DESPITE the poor layout and construction of Awesome14's "reference" the Ti REF102C is getting anywhere near 2ppm stability (+/- so 4ppm really) for even a day or two....I still see zero data showing anything about stability over 30, 90, 180, 256,etc etc etc days....
If anything I say this whole scenario just shows how good the REF102C can be....even when someone who has no idea what they are doing slaps one together with perfboard....shit components and construction techniques....
Again I have used the REF102C in a proper ovenized enclosure design...with proper supporting components, and it's a nice little IC, for a reasonable cost.....easy to implement etc etc etc....and IF you hand select the IC you CAN get better than 1.5ppm stability over a year or more....fine, no big deal...that is not innovative, astounding or anything other than "decent".....
The claims of "heatpipes" and "revolutionary design"....and then insulting us all on the basis that since we don't agree, we are somehow mentally inferior and closed minded...is simply going past the point where I feel like lending any advice or being a nice guy....
So again the only conclusion here, is that DESPITE Awesome14's total ignorance and terrible mental disabilities, the REF102C is a half way decent REF IC....I am mainly still here reading and commenting, because I find this entire thread utterly hilarious, on the basis of the divine claims, breaking the laws of physics claims, assassination conspiracy etc etc etc....it's pure comedy at this point....nothing anyone says here is actually going to help Awesome14, he is far beyond that....
To top it off Awesome14 is SELLING these on eBAY....with bogus descriptions....no pictures of internals....and for a price that doesn't justify anything he has done. Anyone here or there could easily order the same IC from Mouser or Digikey or wherever, for not much money...slap it on a perfboard...with half way decent components....throw it in a hammond enclosure and probably have BETTER results, for under $50.
So basically this is an eBAY scam, and constitutes fraud....and that is simply shameful....there is nothing innovative or "magical" about the "product"....it's built on nothing more than an application schematic handed down from Burr-Brown to Ti and then from Ti to Awesome14....and he didn't even implement it properly....why would anyone want to help this guy? He is scum...