Thermal Characteristics of Heat Pipe with Axially Swallow-tailed Microgrooves

A thermal model for a heat pipe with axially swallow-tailed microgrooves is developed and analyzed numerically to predict the heat transfer capacity and total thermal resistance.The effect of heat load on the axial distribution of capillary radius,and the effect of working temperature and wick structure on the maximum heat transfer capability,as well as the effect of the heat load and working temperature on the total thermal resistance are all investigated and discussed.It is indicated that the meniscus radius increases non-linearly and slowly at the evaporator and adiabatic section along the axial direction,while increasing drastically at the beginning of the condenser section.The pressure difference in the vapor phase along the axial direction is much smaller than that in the liquid phase.In addition,the heat transfer capacity is deeply affected by the working temperature and the size of the wick.A groove wick structure with a wider groove base width and higher groove depth can enhance the heat transfer capability.The effect of the working temperature on the total thermal resistance is insignificant;however,the total thermal resistance shows dependence upon the heat load.In addition,the accuracy of the model is also verified by the experiment in this paper.

Prediction and parametric analysis of 3D borehole and total internal thermal resistance of single U-tube borehole heat exchanger for ground source heat pumps

The borehole and total internal thermal resistance are both significant parameters in evaluating the thermal performance of the ground source heat pump.This study aimed to obtain the accurate correlation of the 3D borehole and total internal thermal resistance(R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D))and analyze the impacts of parameters on the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).Firstly,eight parameters affecting the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D),including the borehole diameter,pipe diameter,pipe-pipe distance,borehole depth,soil thermal conductivity,grout thermal conductivity,pipe thermal conductivity,and fluid velocity inside the pipe,were considered and an L-54 design matrix was generated.Then,the 3D numerical model,coupling with the four-resistance model,was proposed to calculate R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D)for each case.After that,the response surface methodology was employed to obtain and verify the correlation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D),which were compared with the existing resistance calculation methods.Lastly,analysis of variance was carried out to reveal parameters that have statistically significant impacts on the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).Results show that the rationality and accuracy of the correlation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D)can be verified by the determination coefficient and P value of regression model,as well as the P value of lack-of-fit.The existing resistance calculation methods are more or less inaccurate and the discrepancies in some cases can be up to 86.74%and 111.35%for the borehole and total internal thermal resistance.The pipe and grout thermal conductivity,pipe and borehole diameter,and the pipe-pipe distance can be seen as the significant contributory factors to the variation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).