The Phenomenon of Unidirectional Circulating Flow in an Oscillating Heat Pipe

Author(s):  
Chunrong Yu ◽  
Yulong Ji ◽  
Lilin Chu ◽  
Zongyu Wang ◽  
Yadong Li ◽  
...  

Abstract The phenomena of two different types of unidirectional circulating flow pattern in a copper oscillating heat pipe (OHP) were firstly discovered and investigated. The OHP has six turns and three sections: evaporator, condenser and adiabatic sections with lengths of 40 mm, 64 mm, and 51 mm, respectively. R152a was used as the working fluid, the effects of the tilt angle from 0° to 90° and the heat input on the flow and heat transfer of the working fluid in OHP was studied. The experimental results showed that (1) the OHP charged with R152a can form a unidirectional circulating flow at any tilt angle under certain heat input, and the unidirectional circulating flow become steady as the heat input increases; (2) another type of circulating flow was found in the same OHP as the heat input increased to a relative high level, the difference between the two types of circulating flow is that the liquid slugs move forward with or without back forward oscillating movement; (3) the unidirectional circulating flow of the working fluid without back forward oscillating movement in the OHP significantly enhance the heat transfer of OHP.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Hao ◽  
Hongbin Ma ◽  
Xuehu Ma

A new oscillating heat pipe (OHP) charged with hybrid fluids can improve thermal performance. The key difference in this OHP is that it uses room temperature liquid metal (Galinstan consisting of gallium, indium, and tin) and water as the working fluid. The OHP was fabricated on a copper plate with six turns and a 3 × 3 mm2 cross section. The OHP with hybrid fluids as the working fluid was investigated through visual observation and thermal measurement. Liquid metal was successfully driven to flow through the OHP by the pressure difference between the evaporator and the condenser without external force. Experimental results show that while added liquid metal can increase the heat transport capability, liquid metal oscillation amplitude decreases as the filling ratio of liquid metal increases. Visualization of experimental results show that liquid metal oscillation position and velocity increase as the heat input increases. Oscillating motion of liquid metal in the OHP significantly increases the heat transfer performance at high heat input. The lowest thermal resistance of 0.076 °C/W was achieved in the hybrid fluids-filled OHP with a heat input of 420 W. We experimentally demonstrated a 13% higher heat transfer performance using liquid metal as the working fluid compared to an OHP charged with pure water.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoko Iwata ◽  
Hiroyuki Ogawa ◽  
Yoshiro Miyazaki

It is reported that the operating temperature of an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) at an operating limit is not dependent on the ambient temperature but that the maximum heat transfer is dependent on this. In this study, using different ambient temperature conditions, a 15-turn OHP filled with HFC-134a as a working fluid was operated until it dries out. The maximum heat transfer was found to vary with changes in the ambient temperature, but the operating temperature at an operating limit, which depends on the filling ratio (FR) of the working fluid, was found to be constant. At the operating limit, the operating temperature decreased with an increase in the FR when the ratio was greater than 50 wt.%. Visualization experiments and calculations were used to confirm that there is an increase in the liquid volume in the OHP in accordance with an increase in the heat input and that ultimately the OHP fills with the liquid, resulting in the failure of OHP operation. In contrast, at the operating limit, when the FR was less than 50%, the operating temperature increased in line with an increase in the FR. In this case, it is assumed that the volume of liquid slugs decreases as the heat input increases, thus causing the OHP to dry out. This theory is explained using a P–V diagram of the working fluid in the OHP. The OHP thermodynamic cycle reaches a saturated liquid or vapor line before it reaches a critical point if a specified volume is shifted from the specified volume at the critical point. The optimum FR for maximum heat transfer is therefore decided by the void ratio at the critical point of the working fluid.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1A) ◽  
pp. 88-104
Author(s):  
Anwar S. Barrak ◽  
Ahmed A. M. Saleh ◽  
Zainab H. Naji

This study is investigated the thermal performance of seven turns of the oscillating heat pipe (OHP) by an experimental investigation and CFD simulation. The OHP is designed and made from a copper tube with an inner diameter 3.5 mm and thickness 0.6 mm and the condenser, evaporator, and adiabatic lengths are 300, 300, and 210 mm respectively.  Water is used as a working fluid with a filling ratio of 50% of the total volume. The evaporator part is heated by hot air (35, 40, 45, and 50) oC with various face velocity (0.5, 1, and 1.5) m/s. The condenser section is cold by air at temperature 15 oC. The CFD simulation is done by using the volume of fluid (VOF) method to model two-phase flow by conjugating a user-defined function code (UDF) to the FLUENT code. Results showed that the maximum heat input is 107.75 W while the minimum heat is 13.75 W at air inlet temperature 35 oC with air velocity 0.5m/s. The thermal resistance decreased with increasing of heat input. The results were recorded minimum thermal resistance 0.2312 oC/W at 107.75 W and maximum thermal resistance 1.036 oC/W at 13.75W. In addition, the effective thermal conductivity increased due to increasing heat input.  The numerical results showed a good agreement with experimental results with a maximum deviation of 15%.


Author(s):  
Lilin Chu ◽  
Yulong Ji ◽  
Chunrong Yu ◽  
Yantao Li ◽  
Hongbin Ma ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to understand the heat transfer performance, startup and fluid flow condition of oscillating heat pipe (OHP) with hydraulic diameter far exceeding the maximum hydraulic diameter (MHD), an experimental investigation on heat transfer performance and visualization was conducted. From the experimental performance, it is found that the OHP can still work well with ethanol as the working fluid when the tube diameter has exceeded the MHD of 91.6%. In addition, the detailed flow patterns of the OHP were recorded by a highspeed camera for vertical and horizontal orientation to understand its physical mechanism. In the vertical orientation, initially working fluid generates small bubbles, and then the small bubbles coalesce and grow to vapor plugs, the vapor plugs finally pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube. In the horizontal orientation, the working fluid surface fluctuates due to the vapors flow from the evaporator to the condenser and bubbles burst in the evaporator. When the peak of liquid wave reaches the upper surface of tube, a liquid slug has been formed, and then the steam flow pushes the liquid slugs to oscillate in the tube.


2017 ◽  
Vol 865 ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Somchai Maneewan ◽  
Chantana Punlek ◽  
Hoy Yen Chan ◽  
Atthakorn Thongtha

Heat transfer performances of a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) having internal and external diameter with 4.5 mm and 6 mm with various contents of refrigerant are experimentally investigated. The working fluid as R404A refrigerant was filled in the volume ratios from 0% to 80% and the heat input was controlled in the range from 10 W to 80 W. Obtained results exhibited the ability of R404A refrigerant can enhance the thermal performance in steady state condition. The average temperature difference of the evaporating section and condensing section in the 80% filling volume ratio decreased from 9.5 °C to 2.5 °C when the heating power increase from 10 W to 80 W. The thermal resistance of evaporator and condenser decreased with an increase of the heat input as well. For other filling volume ratios, the trend of temperature difference and thermal resistance was similar to that of the 80% volume filling ratio. Considering the same heat input, the highest heat transfer performance was found at the 80% volume filling ratio. Refrigerant with a relatively low dynamic consistency can lead to relatively high velocity in the PHP that can reduce the temperature difference between the evaporating section and condensing section.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 856 ◽  
pp. 98-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid R. Goshayeshi ◽  
Ali Khosravi ◽  
Mehdi Abedpour Karizaki

An experimental investigation of the oscillatory flow and heat transfer in a vertical oscillating heat pipe (OHP) was conducted. The oscillating heat pipe was made of a copper-glass tube. Flow inside the oscillating heat pipe at different heat loads was recorded by a high speed camera. Through this research, the authors investigated the effect of utilizing nanofluids on heat transfer amount in heat pipes. The employed nanofluids in this study were water-Fe2O3, water-SiO2and water-TiO2with various volumetric concentrations. The results show that after adding nanoparticles in the base fluid (here water) heat transfer rate increases significantly. It's also noteworthy, of the all applied nanofluids, water-TiO2mixture presents the best enhancement in heat transfer amount.


Author(s):  
Yulong Ji ◽  
Chao Chang ◽  
Gen Li ◽  
Hongbin Ma ◽  
Yuqing Sun

This research represents an experimental investigation on the operating limitation of an oscillating heat pipe (OHP). The OHP has six turns and three sections: evaporator, condenser and adiabatic sections with lengths of 40 mm, 64 mm and 51 mm, respectively. Water or a mixture of water and alumina (Al2O3) making up a nanofluid served as the working fluid. Filling ratios ranging from 30% to 70%, and tilt angles (orientation) ranging from 0° to 90° were studied. The experimental results showed (1) the water/Al2O3 nanofluid can enhance the OHP heat transfer performance, i.e., the highest input power (operating limitation) increased when the OHP was charged with water/Al2O3 nanofluid; (2) the operating limitation increased as the filling ratio increased from 30% to 70%, but the optimum filling ratio of the OHP is 30% or 50% when the working power is lower or higher; and (3) the thermal resistance of the OHP decreased as the tilt angle increased, and the operating limitation increased as the tilt angle increased.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulong Ji ◽  
Chen Xu ◽  
Hongbin Ma ◽  
Pan Xinxiang

This paper presents an experimental investigation of whether heat transfer performance in an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) would improve if the inner surface of the heat pipe was coated with a layer of copper oxide (CuO). The OHP had six turns and three sections, i.e., evaporator, condenser, and adiabatic section with lengths of 40 mm, 64 mm, and 51 mm, respectively. The cleaned copper tubing was chemically treated with a chemical solution and heated in a furnace. A microstructure layer of CuO was formed in the inner surface of the OHP with K2S2O8 and KOH. The working fluid in this study was water with filling ratios ranging from 40% to 70%. The experimental results show that the CuO microstructure layer is superhydrophilic and can enhance the OHP heat transfer performance. The investigation results in a new way to enhance the heat transfer performance of an OHP.


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