Multilayer Wick Structure of Loop Heat Pipe

Author(s):  
Qingjun Cai ◽  
Chung-Lung Chen ◽  
Julie F. Asfia

Loop heat pipe (LHP) is known as a two-phase heat transfer device that utilizes the evaporation and condensation of an operating fluid to transfer heat. At the LHP low operating temperatures, heat leakage induced by saturated temperature differences between the evaporator and compensation chamber is more serious than at high operating temperatures, due to inherent thermophysical properties of the operating liquid. The serious heat leakage at the low operating temperature not only causes high liquid subcooling requirement but also leads to high total temperature difference and degraded heat transfer performance. In this paper, research efforts are placed on reducing the heat leakage by introducing a multilayer wick structure into the LHP. Based on the previous research results of LHP non-metallic wick structures, the multilayer wick LHP combines advantages of both metallic and non-metallic wick structures, retains good heat conduction from the evaporator case to the liquid/vapor interface and inhibits the reverse heat transfer from the interface to compensation chamber. By demonstrating the concept on a methanol LHP, experimental results exhibit a significant enhancement in reducing heat leakage and the total heat transfer resistance.

Author(s):  
B. P. d’Entremont ◽  
J. M. Ochterbeck

In this investigation, a Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) evaporator has been studied using a borescope inserted through the compensation chamber into the liquid core. This minimally intrusive technique allows liquid/vapor interactions to be observed throughout the liquid core and compensation chamber. A low conductivity ceramic was used for the wick and ammonia as the working fluid. Results indicate that buoyancy driven flows, both two-phase and single-phase, play essential roles in evacuating excess heat from the core, which explains the several differences in performance between horizontal and vertical orientations of the evaporator. This study also found no discernable effect of the pre-start fill level of the compensation chamber on thermal performance during startup at moderate and high heat loads.


2012 ◽  
Vol 605-607 ◽  
pp. 346-351
Author(s):  
Yan Chen ◽  
Yan Qu ◽  
Shu Sheng Zhang

A miniature loop heat pipe (MLHP) with a glass condenser was designed and manufactured. Stress analysis on compensation chamber/evaporator and glass condenser is made to confirm strength of loop heat pipe using the software MSC NASTRAN. Results indicate this new structure loop heat pipe can meet the design requirements and secure to work well. A system level performance analysis was made about heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics inside loop heat pipe using the software of SINDA/FLUINT. This miniature loop heat pipe realized visualization research of phase change phenomenon to some extent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prem Kumar ◽  
Sameer Khandekar ◽  
Yuri F. Maydanik ◽  
Bishakh Bhattacharya

Abstract A loop heat pipe (LHP) is an efficient passive, two-phase heat transfer device which can transport heat up to large distances (over ∼ 5 m) even in the anti-gravity mode. It is necessary to miniaturize the LHPs to make them suitable for space-constrained avionics applications. However, before incorporating these devices under high-vibrational environmental conditions such as those encountered in avionics applications, it is imperative to study their thermal performance under such loads. With the aim of understanding the effect of acceleration and frequency of imposed vibration on thermal performance of miniature LHP (mLHP), a contextual experimental study has been reported here using an ammonia charged mLHP (8 mm evaporator diameter; titanium wick) in the horizontal orientation for two cases: (a) without vibration and (b) with the transverse and longitudinal harmonic vibrations (1–4g, frequencies 15–45 Hz, and sine sweep 15–45 Hz in 1 s). With start-up loads between 5 W and 8 W, the LHP can transfer heat load of about 120 W at safe evaporation temperature of 70 °C. Results show that for the transverse vibration, acceleration rate and frequency of imposed vibrations do not affect the thermal performance of mLHP. For the longitudinal vibration, the device performance gets noticeably enhanced with increased acceleration. The decisive role of heat leak (from evaporator to the compensation chamber (CC)) with imposed vibrations is clearly observed, and its link to the internal fluid distribution can be discerned from data trends.


Author(s):  
Dong-chuan Mo ◽  
Guan-sheng Zou ◽  
Shu-shen Lu

Loop heat pipes are high efficient heat transfer loops/devices. Compared to the typical loop heat pipe with cylinder evaporator, loop heat pipe with flat evaporator (flat loop heat pipe, FLHP) can reduce the thermal resistance between the evaporator and the heat loads. In order to remove the heat leak from the evaporator to the compensation chamber to reduce the operation temperature, a new type of FLHP coupling the compensation chamber and the condenser has been developed. Experiments have been conducted to compare the heat transfer characteristics between the normal type and the new type of FLHP. Part of the heat lead from the evaporator to the compensation chamber can be removed in the new type of FLHP, so it gives better heat transfer performance than the normal one. Results show that, the temperatures in the loop of the new type of FLHP are much more stable than the normal one. The evaporator temperatures and the total thermal resistances of the new type are much lower than those of the normal type. For the normal type of FLHP, it may be failed to start up under low power, and usually the larger temperature oscillation will happen. With the power increasing, the frequency of the oscillation is increasing. When the applied power is large enough, the loop can keep running in the design way, and the large temperature oscillation will disappear.


Author(s):  
Navdeep S. Dhillon ◽  
Jim C. Cheng ◽  
Albert P. Pisano

Theoretical and numerical thermodynamic analysis of the evaporator section of a planar microscale loop heat pipe is presented, to minimize the permissible wick thickness in such a device. In conventional cylindrical loop heat pipes, a minimum wick thickness is required in order to reduce parasitic heat flow, and prevent vapor leakage, into the compensation chamber. By taking advantage of the possibilities allowed by microfabrication techniques, a planar evaporator/compensation chamber design topology is proposed to overcome this limitation, which will enable wafer-based loop heat pipes with device thicknesses on the order of a millimeter or less. Thermodynamic principles governing two-phase flow of the working fluid in a loop heat pipe are analyzed to elucidate the fundamental requirements that would characterize the startup and steady state operation of a planar phase-change device. A three dimensional finite element thermal-fluid solver is implemented to study the thermal characteristics of the evaporator section and compensation chamber regions of a planar vertically wicking micro-columnated loop heat pipe. The use of in-plane thermal conduction barriers to reduce parasitic heat flow into the compensation chamber is demonstrated.


Author(s):  
Inès Gabsi ◽  
Samah Maalej ◽  
Mohamed Chaker Zaghdoudi

The present work deals with the heat transfer performance of a copper-water loop heat pipe (LHP) with a flat oval evaporator in steady-state operation. Modeling the heat transfer in the evaporator was particularly studied, and the evaporation heat transfer coefficient was determined from a dimensionless correlation developed based on experimental data from the literature. The model was based on steady-state energy balance equations for each LHP component. The model results were compared to the experimental ones for various heat loads, cooling temperatures, and elevations, and a good agreement was obtained. Finally, a parametric study was conducted to show the effects of different key parameters, such as the axial conductive heat leaks between the evaporator and the compensation chamber cases, the capillary structure porosity and material, and the groove dimensions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1082 ◽  
pp. 302-308
Author(s):  
Lucas Freitas Berti ◽  
Paulo Henrique Dias dos Santos ◽  
Carlos Renato Rambo ◽  
Dachamir Hotza ◽  
Edson Bazzo

This work reports on results from two phase heat transfer devices assembled with ceramic capillary structure. It is firstly presented the manufacturing of the ceramic wick structures and afterwards the characterization of the morphological-and fluid-dynamical properties of these ceramic wick structures. As closing results, it is presented the thermal behaviour of two different two phase heat transfer devices, i.e. a Capillary Pumped Loop and a Loop Heat Pipe. The properties of the ceramic wick structure are within the desirable range for a correct functioning of these devices, e.g. porosity, pore size and permeability constants ranging from 40 to 60%, from 5 to 30μm and from 10-10 to 10-13m2, respectively. The thermal behaviour tests of the heat transfer devices used power heat load input in range from 10 to 20W and for all devices the evaporator temperature reached steady state condition. Thus, as a result, it can be claimed these ceramic wick structures as successful alternative for assembling capillary evaporator of CPL and LHP.


Author(s):  
Po-Ya Abel Chuang ◽  
John M. Cimbala ◽  
Jack S. Brenizer ◽  
C. Thomas Conroy

A two-phase heat transfer device, a loop heat pipe (LHP), is studied analytically. It is noted that a LHP behaves differently when it is operated against gravity (adverse elevation) or at gravity assisted (positive elevation) conditions. Steady-state modeling of LHP operating characteristics at adverse or zero elevation was broadly studied in the past. This paper presents a steady-state model of a LHP when it is operated at positive elevation based on experimental results. The effects of elevation on the trend of steady-state operating temperature (SSOT) are then studied using the newly developed steady-state model. Experimental results agree with the model predictions at adverse (88.9mm), zero, and positive (88.9mm) elevations. This steady-state model is the only model known to have the capability to predict the operating characteristics at positive elevation. The model will help to design the LHPs utilized in terrestrial applications.


Author(s):  
M. Ghajar ◽  
J. Darabi ◽  
N. Crews

A Hybrid CFD-Mathematical (HyCoM) model was developed to predict the performance of a Micro Loop Heat Pipe (MLHP) as a function of input heat rate. A micro loop heat pipe is a passive two-phase heat transport device, consisting of microevaporator, microcondenser, micro-compensation chamber (CC), and liquid and vapor lines. A CFD model was incorporated into a loop solver code to identify heat leak to the CC. Two-phase pressure drop in the condenser was calculated by several two phase correlations and results were compared [2]. Capillary tube correlations [3] were used for pressure drop calculations in fluid lines. Effects of working fluid and change in geometry were studied. For a heat transport distance of 10 mm, the base model MLHP was 50mm long, 16mm wide and 1mm thick. In the base model, widths of the grooves, liquid and vapor lines, evaporator, and condenser were 55μm, 200μm, 750μm, 2mm, and 4mm respectively.


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