Self-pumping transpiration cooling is an effective method to cool a heated surface without a pump and control system. A porous module with a tree-like micro-channel was manufactured using a metal additive manufacturing method. A metal ceramics heater was used to heat the additive manufactured porous module to test the transpiration cooling effect. The experimental results showed that the coolant water automatically flowed from the water tank to the heated surface with a height difference of 90 mm without any pump. The porous module was efficiently cooled by self-pumping internal transpiration cooling while the temperature of the micro-hole layer was approximately 373 K. The coolant mass flow rate self-adaptively increased with the increase of the heat flux. The system automatically, in a timely manner, and accurately adjusted the coolant mass flow rate to adapt to the step and sinusoidal changed heat flux, and the temperature of the micro-hole layer remained approximately 373 K. The system worked well when the porous module had different angles with the gravity direction. The heated surface was effectively cooled, even when the porous module was upside-down. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.