Sorption heat pipe (SHP) combines the enhanced heat and mass transfer in conventional heat pipes with sorption phenomena in the sorbent bed. SHP consists of a sorbent system (adsorber/desorber and evaporator) at one end and a condenser + evaporator at the other end. It can be used as a cooler/heater and be cooled and heated as a heat pipe. SHP is suggested for space and ground application, because it is insensitive to some "g" acceleration. This device can be composed of a loop heat pipe (LHP), or capillary pumped loop (CPL) and a solid sorption cooler. The most essential feature is that LHP and SHP have the same evaporator, but are working alternatively out of phase. SHP can be applied as a cryogenic cooler, or as a fluid storage canister. When it is used for cryogenic thermal control of a spacecraft on the orbit (cold plate for infrared observation of the earth, or space), or efficient electronic components cooling device (lased diode), it is considered as a cooler. When it is applied as a cryogenic storage system, it insures the low pressure of cryogenic fluid inside the sorbent material at room temperature. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.