Improvements of gravity assisted wickless heat pipes

The performance of conventional gravity assisted heat pipes and modified heat pipes with a separator in the adiabatic section is investigated experimentally. Heat pipes with a three layered wick in the evaporator section, in addition to the separator, are investigated. The performance of the modified heat pipes was compared to a reference gravity assisted heat pipe. Experiments were conducted on heat pipes of three lengths with a common diameter at constant evaporator and condenser lengths. The effect of varying the adiabatic length was, thus, investigated distinctly in normal heat pipes and in modified heat pipes with a separator. Water was employed as the working fluid in all heat pipes. The experimental program included five inclination angles and a heat flux range form 5 to 32 kW/m². The presence of the adiabatic separator caused a marked improvement in all heat pipes tested for all lengths and inclination angles. A pronounced reduction in heat pipe evaporator temperature was obtained, which is accompanied by an improvement in the heat transfer coefficient. A correlation was developed for prediction of the heat transfer coefficient for gravity assisted heat pipes with an adiabatic separator. The correlation took into consideration the effect of the varying adiabatic length. The correlation was in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Experimental study of heat transfer of buried finned pipe for ground source heat pump applications

Ground heat exchangers have vital importance for ground source heat pump applications. Various configurations tried to improve heat transfer in the soil. A new kind of aluminium finned pipe buried in the soil for this aim. In order to compare effectiveness of the Al finned pipe over the traditional PPRC pipe an experimental study carried out. The experimental GSHP system was installed at Y?ld?z Technical University Davupasa Campus on 800 m² surface area with no special surface cover. Temperature data were collected using thermocouples buried in soil horizontally and vertically at various distances from the pipe center and at the inlet and the outlet of the ground heat exchanger. Experimental results were compared with results from analytical study. To compare effectiveness of the Al finned pipe and PPRC pipe a new parameter defined as transferred amount of heat per unit mass of working fluid per unit time for this aim. It is found that Al finned pipe has higher heat transfer values than the traditional PPRC pipe.     

Experimental studies of rotating heat pipes

Thermal characteristics of a rotating heat pipe were measured under steady state at moderate rotational speeds. Copper‐water rotating heat pipe with copper screen mesh wick was fabricated for testing at various heat loads. An experimental test rig with a water‐cooled condenser section was fabricated to study the heat transfer in the rotating heat pipe (RHP) for various heat loads and various rotational speeds ranging from 1000 rpm to 2000 rpm. A heat transfer correlation was developed for the condensing heat transfer coefficient and compared with the experimental results. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20265     

Thermal performance analysis on unit tube for heat pipe receiver

To reduce the mass and improve the thermal performance of the heat receiver, a heat pipe receiver was researched for the space solar dynamic power system. Corresponding mathematical and physical models were built, and a method was devised to provide a numerical equation by which the temperature of the containment canister outer wall, heat pipe wall temperature, working fluid exit temperature and the liquid PCM fraction of the total heat transfer tube were calculated and compared with those obtained from the baseline heat receiver. The results show that it is possible to improve receiver performance, to reduce the fluctuation of the working fluid temperature and to decrease the weight of the heat receiver.     

Experimental investigation of titanium nanofluids on the heat pipe thermal efficiency

The enhancement heat transfer of the heat transfer devices can be done by changing the fluid transport properties and flow features of working fluids. In the present study, therefore, the enhancement of heat pipe thermal efficiency with nanofluids is presented. The heat pipe is fabricated from the straight copper tube with the outer diameter and length of 15, 600 mm, respectively. The heat pipe with the de-ionic water, alcohol, and nanofluids (alcohol and nanoparticles) are tested. The titanium nanoparticles with diameter of 21 nm are used in the present study which the mixtures of alcohol and nanoparticles are prepared using an ultrasonic homogenizer. Effects of %charge amount of working fluid, heat pipe tilt angle and %nanoparticles volume concentrations on the thermal efficiency of heat pipe are considered. The nanoparticles have a significant effect on the enhancement of thermal efficiency of heat pipe. The thermal efficiency of heat pipe with the nanofluids is compared with that the based fluid.     

Enhancement of hydrogen charging in metal hydride-based storage systems using heat pipe

Heat transfer in metal hydride bed significantly affects the performance of metal hydride reactors (MHRs). Enhancing heat transfer within the reaction bed improves the hydriding rate. This study presents performance analysis in terms of storage capacity and time of three different cylindrical MHR configurations using storage media LaNi₅: a) reactor cooled with natural convection, b) reactor with a heat pipe on the central axis, c) reactor with finned heat pipe. This study shows the impact of using heat pipes and fins for enhancing heat transfer in MHRs at varying hydrogen supply pressures (2–15 bar). At any absorption temperature, hydrogen absorption rate and hydrogen storage capacity increase with the supply pressure. Results show that using a heat pipe improves hydrogen absorption rate. It was found that finned heat pipe has a significant effect on the hydrogen charge time, which reduced by approximately 75% at 10 bar hydrogen supply pressure.     

水基纳米流体在铜丝平板热管中的应用

对使用三种水基纳米流体作为工质的铜丝平板热管的传热特性进行了实验研究.使用的纳米流体分别是平均粒径20 nm的Cu纳米颗粒、平均粒径50 nm的Cu纳米颗粒和平均粒径50 nm的CuO纳米颗粒的水基悬浮液(简称水基20 nm Cu、50 nm Cu、50 nm CuO纳米流体),着重分析了纳米流体种类,纳米颗粒质量分数、运行温度或工作压力对热管传热特性的影响.研究结果表明,使用纳米流体作为工质可以显著提高热管的传热特性;在不同运行温度条件下,不同的纳米流体均在质量分数1.0％时具有最佳传热效果;纳米流体是一种适用于铜丝平板热管的新型工质.     

Fluid flow and heat transfer model for high-speed rotating heat pipes

A new complete model has been developed to predict the performance of high-speed rotating heat pipes with centrifugal accelerations up to 10 000 g. The flow and heat transfer in the condenser is modeled using a conventional modified Nusselt film condensation approach. The heat transfer in the evaporator has previously been modeled using a modified Nusselt film evaporation approach. It was found, however, that natural convection in the liquid film becomes more significant at higher accelerations and larger fluid loadings. A simplified evaporation model including the mixed convection is developed and coupled with the film condensation model. The predictions of the model are in reasonable agreement with existing experimental data. The effects of working fluid loading, rotational speed, and pipe geometry on the heat pipe performance are reported here.     

Heat extraction from salinity-gradient solar ponds using heat pipe heat exchangers

This paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical analysis on the heat extraction process from solar pond by using the heat pipe heat exchanger. In order to conduct research work, a small scale experimental solar pond with an area of 7.0 m² and a depth of 1.5 m was built at Khon Kaen in North-Eastern Thailand (16°27′N102°E). Heat was successfully extracted from the lower convective zone (LCZ) of the solar pond by using a heat pipe heat exchanger made from 60 copper tubes with 21 mm inside diameter and 22 mm outside diameter. The length of the evaporator and condenser section was 800 mm and 200 mm respectively. R134a was used as the heat transfer fluid in the experiment. The theoretical model was formulated for the solar pond heat extraction on the basis of the energy conservation equations and by using the solar radiation data for the above location. Numerical methods were used to solve the modeling equations. In the analysis, the performance of heat exchanger is investigated by varying the velocity of inlet air used to extract heat from the condenser end of the heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE). Air velocity was found to have a significant influence on the effectiveness of heat pipe heat exchanger. In the present investigation, there was an increase in effectiveness by 43% as the air velocity was decreased from 5 m/s to 1 m/s. The results obtained from the theoretical model showed good agreement with the experimental data.     

开放式热管中温太阳能空气集热装置的试验研究

设计一种使用简化CPC(非追踪式复合抛物线聚光板)集热板和新型开放式热管组合的全真空玻璃集热管中温太阳能空气集热装置。每个集热单元包括一个简化CPC集热板,一根全真空玻璃集热管,在玻璃集热管内安装一个铜管和外部的一个蒸汽包连接构成一个开放式热管结构。蒸汽包内安装螺旋换热管加热通过换热管的流动空气工质。分别使用水和CuO纳米流体作为热管工质,以空气作为集热工质,对热管式中温空气集热器的传热特性进行了实验研究。分析了不同工作压力、不同工质及纳米流体质量分数对热管集热传热特性的影响,详细比较了热管水工质和纳米流体工质在集热传热性能上的优劣。试验结果表明:本系统只使用2根玻璃集热管构成集热器,空气最大出口温度在夏天可达到200℃,在冬天可接近160℃,系统平均集热效率达到0.4以上,整个系统表现了良好的中温集热特性。以纳米流体为工质的热管热阻比以水为工质时平均降低了20%左右     

Thermal analysis of optimally designed inclined micro heat pipes with axial solid wall conduction

The effect of gravity on the thermal performance of inclined micro heat pipes with axial conduction in the solid wall is reported. A one-dimensional, steady-state model is developed from first principles in which the continuity, momentum, and energy equations of the liquid and vapour phases, together with the Young–Laplace equation, are solved numerically to yield the heat and fluid flow characteristics of an inclined micro heat pipe which is operated optimally at a certain operating temperature. The analysis covers both the favourable and adverse effects of gravity on the performance of a micro heat pipe. The effects of gravity, through the angle of inclination, on the heat transport capacity, the optimal charge level of the working fluid, the liquid volume fraction distribution, the circulation strength of working fluid and the solid wall temperature distribution are analysed, to provide a better insight for the design of inclined micro heat pipes.     

Use of oscillating heat pipe technique as extended surface in wire-on-tube heat exchanger for heat transfer enhancement

This paper presents the performance of a wire-on-tube heat exchanger of which the wire is an oscillating heat pipe. The experiments for this heat exchanger were performed in a wind tunnel by exchanging heat between hot water flowing inside the heat exchanger tubes and air stream flowing across the external surface. R123, methanol and acetone were selected as working fluids of the oscillating heat pipe. The inlet water temperature was varied from 45 to 85 °C while the inlet air temperature was kept constant at 25 °C.     

Sorption heat pipe—a new thermal control device for space and ground application

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.     

Analysis and application of variable conductance heat pipe air preheater

The heat transfer analysis of variable conductance heat pipe air preheater was carried out. The temperature trans-fer matrix was obtained for the air preheater that comprises several discrete heat transfer units with same or different heat transfer surface area in a parallel or counter flow mode. By using the temperature transfer matrix, the outlet fluid temperatures could be easily calculated for a given air preheater and inlet fluid temperatures. The active length of condenser in a variable conductance heat pipe is determined according to the flat interface model. With the same initial conditions, the comparisons between variable conductance heat-pipe air preheater and regular heat pipe air preheater has been analyzed and tested in terms of heat pipe wall temperature, heat transfer surface area and outlet fluid temperatures. Based on the real industrial applications, it has been confirmed that the variable conductance heat pipe air preheater has excellent performance of anti-corrosion and anti-ash-deposition especially at the variable working condition and the sulfur coal (5%-6% mass fraction of sulfur) condition.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer enhancement in a double pipe heat exchanger with a twisted inner pipe

In the present work, an experimental investigation is conducted to address the influence of inner pipe twisting on the overall performance of a double pipe heat exchanger. With the fluid to fluid heat exchange, both parallel and counter flow directions are examined as well. In addition to the original elliptical pipe, three pipes with different numbers of twisting (3, 5, and 7 twists per unit length) constructed from the elliptical pipe are considered where the heat transfer rate and pressure drop are addressed. All tests are carried out in the turbulent flow regime where the Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 5000 to 26,000 and water is used as the working medium. The obtained outcomes show that for both flow directions, there is an enhancement in the heat exchanger overall performance with all considered twisting pipes. The maximum enhancement in the Nusselt number is found to be 1.8 for the parallel flow and around 2.2 for the counter flow compared with the original pipe. The inner pipe with 7 twists, however, improves the overall performance the most, where a maximum performance enhancement factor of 1.63 and 1.9 are observed at Reynolds number of 26,000 in the parallel and counter flow configurations, respectively.     

Heat transfer in the evaporator section of moderate-speed rotating heat pipes

Experiments were performed to investigate the heat transfer mechanism in the evaporator section of non-stepped rotating heat pipes at moderate rotational speeds of 2000–4000 rpm or accelerations of 40g–180g, and evaporator heat fluxes up to 100 kW/m². The thermal resistance of the evaporator section as well as that of the condenser section was examined by measuring the axial temperature distributions of the flow in the core region of the heat pipe and along the wall of the heat pipe. The experimental results indicated that natural convection heat transfer occurred in the liquid layer of the evaporator section under these conditions. The heat transfer measurements were in reasonable agreement with the predictions from an existing rotating heat pipe model that took into account the effect of natural convection in the evaporator section.     

Experimental comparative study of heat pipe performance using CuO and TiO2 nanofluids

In recent years, developing an energy efficient conventional heat pipe is more important because of the development of electronics and computer industries. To enhance the thermal performance of heat pipe, different nanofluids have been widely used. In this paper, an experimental investigation of heat transfer performance of heat pipe has been conducted using three different working fluids such as DI water, CuO nanofluid and TiO₂ nanofluid. The heat pipe used in this study is made up of copper layered with two layers of screen mesh wick for better capillary action. The Parameters considered in this study are heat input, angle of inclination and evaporator fill ratio. The concentration of nanoparticle used in this study is of 1.0 wt.%. From the experimental results, comparisons of thermal performance were made between the heat pipes using various working fluids. Among various fill ratio charged, the heat pipe shows good thermal performance when it is operated at 75% fill ratio for all working fluids. However, the heat pipe operated with CuO nanofluid showed higher results compared with TiO₂ nanofluid and DI water. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model-based design and analysis of heat pipe working fluid for optimal performance in a concentric evacuated tube solar water heater

In this study, a semi-dynamic model of a concentric evacuated tube solar water heater is developed to investigate the effect of working fluid design on technical and economic performance of a typical solar water heater in a household located at Sydney, Australia. The model is validated against experimental data. The effects of using water, ammonia, acetone, methanol, and pentane as working fluids of the built-in heat pipe are discussed comparatively during a typical day of operation. Water is identified as the best working fluid amongst the others. The variation of thermal resistance and critical heat flux of the heat pipes due to change in weather condition is presented and discussed. Three hypothetical working fluids are then proposed for further analysis which led to a working fluid design superior to water in performance. It is shown that the performance of the solar water heater can be significantly enhanced up to 28% and 50% from economical and technical points of view, respectively.     

Correlation to predict heat transfer characteristics of a radially rotating heat pipe at vertical position

The heat transfer characteristics of a radially rotating heat pipe (RRHP) depend on a number of parameters. This paper is a study of the effects of these parameters. They are the inner diameter of the tube, aspect ratio, rotational acceleration, working fluid and the dimensionless parameters of heat transfer. RRHPs, made of copper tubes with inner diameters of 11, 26, and 50.4 mm, were used in the experiments. The aspect ratios were 5, 10, 20 and 40 respectively. The selected working fluids were water, ethanol and R123 (CHCl₂CF₃) with a filling ratio of 60% of evaporator volume. The experiments were conducted at inclination angles of 0–90° from horizontal axis and the rotational accelerations were lower, higher and equal to gravitational acceleration. The working temperature was 90 °C. The evaporator section was heated by electric power while heat in the condenser section was removed naturally by air. The evaporator and adiabatic section of the RRHP were well insulated with ceramic fibers. The experimental results showed that the heat flux decreases with an increasing inner diameter, and decreases with an increasing aspect ratio. The heat flux increases with an increasing rotational acceleration and decreases with an increasing liquid density of the working fluid. A correlation to predict the heat transfer rate at vertical position can be established.Further research will investigate a visual study of internal flow pattern and the formulation of a mathematical model.     

Analytical model of solar pond with heat exchanger

This paper presents an analytical model of a three zone solar pond with heat exchange pipes laid in its bottom convective zone. Explicit expressions for the transient rate of heat extraction and the temperature at which heat can be extracted are derived as a function of geometrical and operational parameters of the system. The transfer of heat from the pond bottom convective zone to the heat exchange fluid is expressed in terms of a heat removal factor, F_R. Analytical results, characteristic of the optimum performance of the pond, are presented and the criteria for the size and heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger are investigated. The annual average efficiency of heat extraction exhibits the asymptotic increase with the increase of length per unit pond area of heat exchange pipe.