An Investigation of Flat-Plate Oscillating Heat Pipes

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Cheng ◽  
Scott Thompson ◽  
Joe Boswell ◽  
H. B. Ma

The heat transfer performance of flat-plate oscillating heat pipes (FP-OHPs) was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Two layers of channels were created by machining grooves on both sides of a copper plate in order to increase the channel number per unit volume. The channels had rectangular cross-sections with hydraulic diameters ranging from 0.762 mm to 1.389 mm. Acetone, water, diamond/acetone, gold/water, and diamond/water nanofluids were tested as working fluids. It was found that the FP-OHP’s thermal resistance depended on the power input and operating temperature. The FP-OHP charged with 0.0003 vol % gold/water nanofluids achieved a thermal resistance of 0.078 K/W while removing 560 W with a heat flux of 86.8 W/cm2. The thermal resistance was further decreased when the nanofluid was used as the working fluid. A mathematical model predicting the heat transfer performance was developed to predict the thermal performance of the FP-OHP. Results presented here will assist in the optimization of the FP-OHP and provide a better understanding of heat transfer mechanisms occurring in OHPs.

Author(s):  
Peng Cheng ◽  
Scott Thompson ◽  
Joe Boswell ◽  
Hongbin Ma

The heat transfer performance of flat-plate oscillating heat pipes (FP-OHPs) was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Two layers of channels were created by machining grooves on both sides of copper plate, in order to increase the channel number per unit volume. The channels had rectangular cross-sections with hydraulic diameters ranging from 0.762 mm to 1.389 mm. Acetone, water and diamond/acetone, gold/water and diamond/water nanofluids were tested as working fluids. It was found that the FP-OHP’s thermal resistance depended on the power input and operating temperature. The FP-OHP charged with pure water achieved a thermal resistance of 0.078°C/W while removing 560 W with a heat flux of 86.8 W/cm2. The thermal resistance was further decreased when nanofluid was used as the working fluid. A mathematical model predicting the heat transfer performance was developed to predict the effects of channel dimension, heating mode, working fluid and operating temperature on the thermal performance of the FP-OHP. Results presented here will assist in optimization of the FP-OHP and provide a better understanding of heat transfer mechanisms occurring in an OHPs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Hao ◽  
Huiwen Yu ◽  
Xuehu Ma ◽  
Zhong Lan

Abstract For oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) with low turn number (<9) positioned in the horizontal direction, the working fluid could not easily flow back to the evaporator due to the absence of gravity. Based on this, copper OHP with superhydrophilic micro-/nanostructured surface was investigated to enhance the heat transfer performance by introducing additional capillary force. OHPs with six turns were fabricated with bare copper and micro-/nanostructured inner surfaces for comparison. Pure water was used as the working fluid. Contact angles of water on the copper and superhydrophilic surfaces were 36.7 and 0 deg, respectively. The filling ratios of water were 50%, 65%, and 80%, respectively. Thermal resistance and liquid slug oscillations of OHPs were investigated at the heat input ranging from 100 to 380 W. Experimental results showed that OHPs with the superhydrophilic micro-/nanostructured surface showed an enhanced heat transfer performance due to the micro-/nanostructure-induced capillary flow in the horizontal direction. The optimum filling ratio was 65% in this work. The superhydrophilic micro-/nanostructured surface could significantly facilitate the backflow of the working fluid to the evaporator section and accelerate oscillating motions of liquid slugs. With the increasing of 0–70% in slug oscillating amplitude and 0–100% in slug oscillating velocity, micro-/nanostructured OHPs improved the heat transfer performance by up to 10% compared with the copper OHPs due to the wicking effect.


Author(s):  
Lilin Chu ◽  
Yulong Ji ◽  
Hongbin Ma ◽  
Yantao Li ◽  
Chao Chang ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to understand the heat transfer performance, startup, and fluid flow conditions of oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) with a hydraulic diameter far exceeding the maximum hydraulic diameter (MHD) defined by dh,max≤2σBo/(ρl−ρv)g, an experimental investigation on the OHP heat transfer performance and visualization was conducted. The effects of heat input, working fluid, and orientation on the oscillating motion and heat transfer performance of the investigated OHPs have been conducted. In addition, the detailed flow patterns of the tested OHPs were recorded by a high-speed camera from both vertical and horizontal orientations. Results show that the maximum hydraulic diameter, which can form a train of liquid plugs and vapor bubbles, which is essential for an OHP to function, depends on the heat input, working fluid, and orientation. At a power input of 1000 W, the OHP can still function well even when the tube diameter exceeds the MHD of 91.6%. This maximum hydraulic dimeter depends on the orientation. While the OHP with a dimeter far exceeding the MHD can still function, the heat transfer performance of the OHP in a vertical orientation is better than in a horizontal orientation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 292-301

This paper mainly introduces the sintering process of the monolithic capillary wick and analyzes the influence of different copper powder particle size, filling rate, copper powder shape and heat source size on the heat transfer performance of the isothermal plate. The experimental results show that: (1) For the isothermal plate sintered with spherical copper powder, the capillary force of large particle size copper powder is small, but the flow resistance is also small, and the performance of the isothermal plate sintered with large particle size copper powder is better. (2) In the case of low filling rate, the isothermal plate is dried due to insufficient return fluid. In the case of high filling rate, on the one hand, the thickness of the liquid film at the evaporation end of the isothermal plate is large, resulting in additional thermal resistance. On the other hand, the thin film evaporation mode will be transformed into pool boiling mode, which will reduce the heat transfer performance. (3) Spherical copper powder sintered plate with regular shape has the best performance, while dendritic copper powder sintered plate has relatively high thermal resistance. (4) The heat source area has a great influence on the thermal resistance of the plate. Under the same heating power, the thermal resistance of the small area heat source is much higher than that of the large area heat source; The thermal resistance of sintered copper plate is lower than that of pure copper plate under two heat source areas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 711 ◽  
pp. 223-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shen Chun Wu ◽  
Jhih Huang Gao ◽  
Zih Yan Huang ◽  
Dawn Wang ◽  
Cho Jeng Huang ◽  
...  

This study investigates the effects of increasing the evaporating area of wick in a loop heat pipe (LHP). This work attempts to improve the performance of the loop heat pipe by increasing the number of grooves and thereby the surface area of the wick. The number of grooves is increased from eight to twelve. Experimental results show that increasing the number of grooves not only increases the surface area of the wick but also enhances LHP performance. When the evaporating surface area increases by 50%, which corresponds to increasing the number of grooves from eight to twelve, the heat transfer capacity increases from 310W to 470W and the thermal resistance is reduced from 0.21°C/W to 0.17°C/W. According to preliminary measurements, increasing the number of grooves in the loop heat pipe is highly promising for improving the heat transfer performance.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1827
Author(s):  
Chun-Ching Kuo ◽  
Huei Chu Weng

This study mainly focuses on the influence of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanostructure generated on condenser section inner surface on the heat transfer performance of gravity heat pipes. AAO nanotubes were first grown by anodizing the inner wall surface of the condenser section of aluminum alloy gravity heat pipes through different anodizing voltages and treatment times. The nanostructure effect on the temperature distribution and overall thermal resistance was then investigated by using a thermal performance test system under different input heat powers. The experimental results showed that the generation of AAO nanostructure on the inner surface significantly enhances heat transfer performance; that is, the temperature difference between the evaporator and condenser sections and overall thermal resistance are reduced. Such an effect can be more significant in the case of a lower heat source. The percentage decreases in temperature difference and overall thermal resistance can be reduced by up to 58.83% and 58.79%, respectively, compared to the unprocessed heat pipe.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1044-1045 ◽  
pp. 320-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Liu ◽  
Hong Zhang

The medium temperature heat pipe is a highly effective heat transfer element through heat exchange due to phase change of the liquid organic working fluid. A medium temperature heat pipe used in solar energy receiver of parabolic trough thermal power generating system has been analysed, and a medium temperature heat pipe with liquid organic working fluid has been designed. The isothermal performance and heat transfer performance of the medium temperature heat pipe with liquid organic working fluid have been tested under various power input and different inclined angles. Test proves that axial temperature difference of half circle heated medium temperature heat pipe is smaller, and the half circle heated heat pipe with inclined angle is 4°and 8°can work stably, having good axial isothermal performance and heat transfer performance, the influence on isothermal performance and heat transfer performance of the medium temperature heat pipe can be neglected.


2013 ◽  
Vol 589-590 ◽  
pp. 552-558
Author(s):  
Xi Bing Li ◽  
Xun Wang ◽  
Yun Shi Ma ◽  
Zhong Liang Cao

As a highly efficient heat dissipation unit, a micro heat pipe is widely used in high heat flux microelectronic chips, and its thermal resistance is crucial to heat transfer capacity. Through analyses of the structure and heat transfer performance of a circular heat pipe with sintered wick, the theoretical model of total thermal resistance was established on heat transfer theory, and then simplified, finally a testing platform was set up to test for total thermal resistance performance. The testing results show that when the micro heat pipe is in optimal heat transfer state, its total thermal resistance conform well with that from the theoretical model, and its actual thermal resistance is much lower than that of the rod made of the material with perfect thermal conductivity and of the same geometric size. With the increment of heat transfer capability, the total thermal resistance of a micro heat pipe with sintered wick decreases first, then increases and reaches the minimum when it is in the optimal heat transfer state. The greater total thermal resistance in low heat transfer performance is mainly caused by too much working fluid accumulating in evaporator and the lower velocity in vapor cavity, and the greater total thermal resistance in high heat transfer performance is mainly due to the working fluid drying up in condenser. Total thermal resistance is related to many factors, such as thermal conductivity of tube-shell material, wall thickness, wick thickness, copper powders grain size and porosity, the lengths of condenser and evaporator, and the diameter of vapor cavity etc.. Therefore, the structure parameters of a micro heat pipe with sintered wick should be reasonably designed according to the specific conditions to ensure its heat transfer capacity and total thermal resistance to meet the requirements.


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