Experimental Investigation of Pulsating Heat Pipes and a Proposed Correlation

Pulsating heat pipes are complex heat transfer devices, and their optimum thermal performance is largely dependent on different parameters. In this paper, in order to investigate these parameters, first a closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) was designed and manufactured. The CLPHP was made of copper tubes with internal diameters of 1.8 mm. The lengths of the evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser sections were 60, 150, and 60 mm, respectively. Afterward, the effect of various parameters, including the working fluid (water and ethanol), the volumetric filling ratio (30%, 40%, 50%, 70%, 80%), and the input heat power (5 to 70 W), on the thermal performance of the CLPHP was investigated experimentally. The results showed that the manufactured CLPHP has the best thermal performance for water and ethanol as working fluids when the corresponding filling ratios are 40% and 50%, respectively. Finally, with the available experimental data set of CLPHPs, a power-law correlation based on dimensionless groups was established to predict their input heat flux. Compared with the experimental data, the root-mean-square deviation of the correlation prediction was 19.7%, and 88.6% of the deviations were within ± 30%.     

Correlation to Predict the Maximum Heat Flux of a Vertical Closed-Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe

The objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the effect of various parameters on the maximum heat flux of a vertical closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) and the inside phenomena that cause maximum heat flux to occur. A correlation to predict the maximum heat flux using the obtained results was also established. Quantitative and qualitative experiments were conducted and analyzed. A copper CLPHP and a transparent high-temperature glass capillary tube CLPHP were used in the quantitative and qualitative experiments. From the study, it was found that when the internal diameter and number of meandering turns increased, the maximum heat flux increased. However, when the evaporator section length increased, the maximum heat flux decreased. The maximum heat flux of a CLPHP occurs due to the dry-out of liquid film at the evaporator section. This occurs after a two-phase working fluid circulation changes flow pattern from countercurrent slug flow to co-current annular flow, because the vapor velocity increases beyond a critical value. A correlation to predict the maximum heat flux obtained from this study was developed.     

Numerical model of a multi-turn Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe: Effects of the local pressure losses due to meanderings

A numerical code has been developed to investigate the thermal performances of Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes (CLPHP). The model takes into account the effects of the local pressure losses due to the presence of turns which have always been neglected by previous models; it can simulate CLPHPs working with different fluids (ethanol, R123 and FC-72 are shown), different number of turns, various inclination angles as well as different input heat fluxes at the evaporator. Numerical results show that the local pressure losses influence the device behavior in particular for high input heat fluxes and when the CLPHP is working in the horizontal position. The trends of the total liquid momentum, maximum tube temperatures, and equivalent thermal resistances, reveal good qualitative and quantitative accordance with the experimental data available in literature. Further direct experimental validations are mandatory to confirm whether this model can be used as a preliminary CLPHP thermal design tool.     

Predicting thermal instability in a closed loop pulsating heat pipe system

Mathematical models for a closed loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) with multiple liquid slugs and vapor plugs are presented in this study. The model considers the effect of thermal instability in different sections of a CLPHP at different operational conditions. Based on a neural network, an approach of nonlinear autoregressive moving average model with exogenous inputs (NARMAX) can be applied to the thermal instability of CLPHP. This study approximates the nonlinear behavior of CLPHP with a linear approximation method that can establish the relationship among the response temperature differences between evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser sections. A multi-input single-output (MISO) strategy is adopted in this study to approximate nonlinear behavior of CLPHP. The predicted results show that the effect of the three sections to vapor condensation could be precisely distinguished; meanwhile, thermal performance of CLPHP would be predicted. The development of nonlinear identification technique will be helpful to optimize and understand the heat transfer performance of thermal instability in the different designs of CLPHP.     

Heat Transfer Studies of a Heat Pipe

The present investigation reports a theoretical and experimental study of a wire screen heat pipe, the evaporator section of which is subjected to forced convective heating and the condenser section to natural convective cooling in air. The theoretical study deals with the development of an analytical model based on thermal resistance network approach. The model computes thermal resistances at the external surface of the evaporator and condenser as well as inside the heat pipe. A test rig has been developed to evaluate the thermal performance of the heat pipe. The effects of operating parameters (i.e., tilt angle of the heat pipe and heating fluid inlet temperature at the evaporator) have been experimentally studied. Experimental results have been used to compare the analytical model. The heat transfer coefficients predicted by the model at the external surface of the evaporator and condenser are reasonably in agreement with experimental results.     

Flat Loop Heat Pipe with Bi-Transport Loops for Graphics Card Cooling

A flat loop heat pipe (FLHP) with bi-transport loops is developed for the cooling of graphics card with high heat flux up to 80W/cm². The evaporator and the pipes are made of copper and ultrapure water (electronic resistivity > 18 MΩ-cm) as the working fluid. To give the loop heat pipe (LHP) better performance, the evaporator is made in a flat shape to reduce the contact resistance between the evaporator and the chip. The advances of the LHP with bi-transport loops are discussed. The heat transfer performance is tested with different filling rate in different orientations. The test results show that the LHP can start up easily and can transport large amount of heat stably. The orientation of the condenser above the evaporator gives a better performance, and filling with 13 g of water gives a better performance. Limited by the evaporator temperature lower than 90°C, the LHP can transport 320 W when the evaporator is above the condenser and 380 W when the condenser is above the evaporator.     

Effect of Surface Tension Variation of the Working Fluid on the Performance of a Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe

In this article, the effect of surface tension variation of the working fluid on the thermal performance of a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) is presented. A two-turn closed loop PHP is fabricated with a combination of copper and quartz tubes having 2 mm inner diameter. Three filling ratios are considered in the present study. A common surfactant namely sodium dodecyl sulfate is used to vary the surface tension of the distilled water which is the base working fluid tested in the PHP. Visualization as well as heat transfer studies is performed in the PHP. Thermal resistances of working fluids with different surface tension are estimated for each filling ratio. Further, the effect of surfactant concentration on the hydrodynamics of the PHP is also discussed. Addition of surfactant induces formation of foam after the filling process and in some phase of PHP operation. It changes the flow regime boundaries and lowers the evaporator temperature under specific operating conditions. A flow regime map is also constructed for the present PHP. The working fluid with a lower surface tension gives a minimum evaporator temperature in the vertical orientation and thus, lowest thermal resistance has been obtained. However, surface tension does not influence the performance in the horizontal position appreciably.     

Evaporative heat transfer model of a loop heat pipe with bidisperse wick structure

A mathematical model of evaporative heat transfer in a loop heat pipe was developed and compared with experiments. The steady-state thermal performance was predicted for different sintered nickel wicks, including monoporous and bidisperse structures. The effect of wick pore size distribution on heat transfer was taken into consideration. The wick in the evaporator was assumed to possess three regions during vaporization from an applied heat load: a vapor blanket, a two-phase region, and a saturated liquid region. The evaporator wall temperature and the total thermal resistance at different heat loads were predicted using ammonia as the working fluid. The predictions showed distinct heat transfer characteristics and higher performance for the bidisperse wick in contrast with monoporous wick. A bidisperse wick was able to decrease the thickness of the vapor blanket region, which presents a thermal resistance and causes lower heat transfer capacity of the evaporator. Additionally, a validation test presented good agreement with the experiments.     

Heat Transfer in a Loop Heat Pipe using Diamond-H2O Nanofluid

The main aim of this study is to enhance the thermal performance of loop heat pipe (LHP) charged with nanofluid as the working fluid. Thus, experiments are conducted to investigate heat transfer characteristics of using diamond-H₂O nanofluid with nanoparticle mass concentration ranged from 0% to 3% in a LHP as a working medium for heat input range from 20 W to 60 W. The three-dimensional model, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. The simulations are carried out with three-dimensional model based on the characterization of the working fluid inside the LHP to give an insight into the heat transfer and fluid flow mechanism. The LHP performance is evaluated in terms of temperature distributions and total thermal resistance of LHP. It is inferred that the temperatures obtained at all points in evaporator side of LHP charged with diamond-H₂O nanofluid are lower and reach their steady state faster than LHP charged with pure water. At the constant heat input, test results showed the average decrease of 5.7%?10.8% at nanoparticle mass concentrations ranging from 0.5% to 3% in R_th of LHP as compared with pure water (0%).     

Performance Analysis of a Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger Under Different Fluid Charges

An experimental study was conducted on the effects of the amount of working fluid on the performance of a two-row copper-R134a heat pipe heat exchanger at the air side. The heat pipe heat exchanger operates in the horizontal configuration, and five different fluid charges were studied to cover the underload and overload cases. Moreover, the calculated outlet temperature of the evaporator side, obtained from the heat exchanger simulation, was compared with the experimental results. Based on the present study, it was found that the optimum performance of the copper-R134a heat pipe heat exchanger can be achieved at a fluid charge slightly exceeding the amount required to saturate the wick.     

Evaporation Heat Transfer Coefficient in a Capillary Pumped Loop and Loop Heat Pipe for Different Working Fluids

Capillary pumped loop (CPL) and loop heat pipe (LHP) are passive two-phase heat transport devices. They have been gaining importance as a part of the thermal control system of spacecraft. The evaporation heat transfer coefficient at the tooth–wick interface of an LHP or CPL has a significant impact on the evaporator temperature. It is also the main parameter in sizing of a CPL or LHP. Experimentally determined evaporation heat transfer coefficients from a three-port CPL with tubular axially grooved (TAG) evaporator and a TAG LHP with acetone, R-134A, and ammonia as working fluids are presented in this paper. The influences of working fluid, hydrodynamic blocks in the core, evaporator configuration (LHP or CPL), and adverse elevation (evaporator above condenser) on the heat transfer coefficient are presented.     

Thermal response of a flat heat pipe sandwich structure to a localized heat flux

The temperature distribution across a flat heat pipe sandwich structure, subjected to an intense localized thermal flux has been investigated both experimentally and computationally. The aluminum sandwich structure consisted of a pair of aluminum alloy face sheets, a truncated square honeycomb (cruciform) core, a nickel metal foam wick and distilled water as the working fluid. Heat was applied via a propane torch to the evaporator side of the flat heat pipe, while the condenser side was cooled via natural convective and radiative heat transfer. A novel method was developed to estimate experimentally, the heat flux distribution of the torch on the evaporator side. This heat flux distribution was modeled using a probability function and validated against the experimental data. Applying the estimated heat flux distribution as the surface boundary condition, a finite volume analysis was performed for the wall, wick and vapor core regions of the flat heat pipe to obtain the field variables in these domains. The results were found to agree well with the experimental data indicating the thermal spreading effect of the flat heat pipe.     

Effect of Operating Parameters on the Heat Transfer and Liquid Film Thickness of Revolving Heat Pipe

This paper presents a study on the effects of operating parameters on the liquid film thickness and heat transfer of revolving heat pipe. The effects of speed, radius of rotation, evaporator and condenser temperatures, and mass of the working fluid are considered. Also, the effects of these parameters on the maximum heat transfer and minimum mass of the working fluid supplied to the heat pipe are considered. A simplified theoretical model is presented to estimate the heat transfer and the liquid film thickness. The theoretical model is used to determine the driven forces on the control volume. The system of equations associated with the heat pipe model is solved using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method through a numerical code written in MATLAB. The results show that the heat transfer increases by decreasing the mass of the working fluid and increasing the temperature difference through the heat pipe. They also show that the liquid film thickness increases with the decrease in temperature difference and with increase in the mass of fluid. The maximum heat transfer increases with the increase in the rotation speed. The minimum mass of the working fluid supplied to the heat pipe increases with the increase in temperature difference and with the decrease in the rotation speed.     

间隔热源加热下新型热管冷板内部汽液两相流动与传热的数值模拟

为了有效解决阵列行波管的多热源、高热流散热问题，研制了一种结构全新的热管冷板。建立了热管冷板内部汽液两相流动与传热的两相流模型，并采用IPSA算法对间隔热源加热下热管冷板的内部流动和传热特性进行了数值模拟。通过数值模拟和试验验证，考察了该热管冷板的初步运行性能，为其实际应用提供了依据。图8表1参9     

分离式热管倾斜蒸发段传热特性的试验研究

采用加热无缝钢管模拟倾斜布置的分离式热管蒸发段,分析了倾角、充液量、热流密度和工作压力对其传热特性的影响,并根据试验结果回归整理了相应的换热系数无量纲准则关系式,与试验数据吻合较好,计算误差小于15％。     

Heat Transfer Performance of Microgroove Back Plate Heat Pipes with Working Fluid and Heating Power

Micro heat pipes(MHP) cooling is one of the most efficient solutions to radiate heat for high heat flux electronic components in data centers. It is necessary to improve heat transfer performance of microgroove back plate heat pipes. This paper discusses about influence on thermal resistance through experiments and numerical simulation with different working fluids, filling ratio and heat power. Thermal resistance of the CO_2 filled heat pipe is 14.8% lower than the acetone filled heat pipe. In the meantime, at the best filling ratio of 40%, the CO_2 filled heat pipe has the optimal heat transfer behavior with the smallest thermal resistance of 0.123 K/W. The thermal resistance continues to decline but the magnitude of decreases is going to be minor. In addition, this paper illustrates methods about how to enhance heat pipe performance from working fluids, filling ratio and heat power, which provides a theoretical basis for practical applications.     

不同加热方式下环路热管蒸发器可视化研究

针对环路热管内部工质相变及流动换热问题,设计了环路热管蒸发器中心通道可视化实验平台,研究了不同加热方式对热管内工质状态和传热特性的影响。结果表明：加热方式直接影响热管10W启动过程,双面加热启动速度最快。相同热载荷时,不同加热方式下环路热管热阻及蒸发器中心通道内液面高度和成核情况存在差异。10W - 40W热载荷时,随着热载荷的增大,三种加热方式的传热热阻均在减小。40W-50W热载荷时,顶部加热方式下的热管性能出现恶化,底部加热传热性能出现停滞,仅双面加热性能稳定并有提高趋势。随着热负荷的增加,蒸发器中心通道内气液界面升高、气泡的产生变得更加剧烈,蒸发器通过吸液芯向储液器的漏热量增加,进而影响环路热管的性能。     

Heat transfer performance in 3D internally finned heat pipe

An experimental study of heat transfer performance in 3D internally finned steel-water heat pipe was carried out in this project. All the main parameters that can significantly influence the heat transfer performance of heat pipe, such as working temperature, heat flux, inclination angle, working fluid fill ratio (defined by the evaporation volume), have been examined. Within the experimental conditions (working temperature 40 °C–95 °C, heat flux 5.0 kw/m²–40 kw/m², inclination angle 2–90°), the evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients in 3D internally finned heat pipe are found to be increased by 50–100% and 100–200%, respectively, as compared to the smooth gravity-assisted heat pipe under the same conditions. Therefore, it is concluded that the special structures of 3D-fins on the inner wall can significantly reduce the internal thermal resistance of heat pipe and then greatly enhance its heat transfer performance.     

Performance investigation of flat-plate CLPHP with pure and binary working fluids for PEMFC cooling

While proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) generates electricity, about half of the energy is converted into heat. According to structural characteristics and heat dissipation requirements of PEMFC, a flat-plate micro closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) cooling method is designed. The flat-plate CLPHP is an aluminum alloy plate with a thickness of 2.4 mm, and the inside is a 2.3 mm × 1.4 mm rectangular flow channel, which transfers heat mainly through the internal working fluid's vapor-liquid phase change and forced convection. The experiment tested the heat transfer performance and the internal pressure of pure working fluids methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, deionized water, and methanol-deionized water with different mass ratios. By comparison, it is found that the binary working medium methanol-deionized water with a mass ratio of 5:1 has the best startup performance, lower internal pressure, and less temperature fluctuation, which has great potential in the application of PEMFC. Through the dimensionless number correlation analysis of the internal working fluid's thermophysical parameters, a CLPHP heat flux prediction equation with an average deviation of 15.0% is fitted.     

多通道并联回路型脉动热管运行特性的试验研究

针对回路型脉动热管进行了管路结构形式调整,制作了多通道并联回路型脉动热管并建立试验系统,选用丙酮和无水酒精作为工质,在相近热力工况下通过试验考察多通道并联回路型脉动热管和典型回路脉动热管在不同加热工况下的运行情况,并进行比较.结果表明:多通道并联回路型脉动热管与典型回路型脉动热管具有相似的启动特征,但其在运行中具有更好的稳定性,不易出现干烧现象;其传热效果也优于典型回路型脉动热管,具有较低的运行热阻,低充液率(34%)时的传热效果优于高充液率(51%、68%)时,具有较高的传热极限.