Visual Study on Flow and Operational Characteristics of Flat Plate Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes

This paper presents an experimental study including visualization on a flat plate closed loop pulsating heat pipes.It consists of a total of 40 channels with square cross section(2 mm×2 mm,165 mm long) machined directly on an aluminum plate(180 mm×120 mm×3 mm) covered by a transparent plate.The working fluid employed is ethanol.As a result,various flow patterns and their transitions are observed and found to be related to the fluid fill ratio,input heat load and the device orientation.Also the operational characteristics and working mechanism are discussed.

Parametric Influence on Thermal Performance of Flat Plate Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes

This paper presents an experimental study on a flat plate closed loop pulsating heat pipes. It consisted of total 40 channels with square cross section （2 × 2 mm^2, 165 mm long） machined directly on an aluminum plate（180×120×3 nm^2）, which was covered by a transparent plate. The working fluid employed was ethanol. As the results, the influence parameters of thermal performance were investigated, such as filling ratio, heat load and operational orientations etc. Filling ratio was found to be a critical parameter, and its effect was rather complicated. According to its values the PHP plate could have four distinct working zones with different operational characteristics and heat transfer performance. The effect of heat load on thermal performance was found to be positive, and in general, iucrcasing the heat load would improve heat transfer performance. In order to analyze the effect of gravity on thermal performance, three different heat modes and total seven tilt angles were tested and compared. Successful operation at all orientations with respect to gravity was also achieved.

Mass-Spring-Damper Model with Steady State Parameters for Predicting the Movement of Liquid Column and Temperature Oscillation in Loop Heat Pipe

In order to investigate the mechanism of the temperature oscillation in loop heat pipes,this paper investigated the movement of the phase interface as the changed input power by a mass-spring-damper model.The model was solved with MATLAB and was used to explain the high-frequency and low-amplitude temperature oscillation.Temperature variation with the input power from 20 W to 75 W was investigated based on a LHP prototype in a literature.The model agreed well with the experimental data in the literature.The simulation results suggested that the movement of the liquid column was caused by the fluctuation of pressure difference applied on the liquid column and the stiffness coefficients of the vapor springs increasing with the input power.According to parameter analyses,the temperature oscillation at the outlet of the condenser can be weakened by increasing the mass of the liquid column and keeping the temperature at the outlet of the condenser steady.

Two-Phase Flow Modeling in a Single Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes

Mathematical modeling of pulsating heat pipes through ‘first’ principles is a contemporary problem which remains quite elusive. Simplifications and assumptions made in all the modeling approaches developed so far render them unsuitable for engineering design. In this paper, a more realistic modeling scheme is presented which provides considerable try for thought toward the next progressive step. At high enough heat flux level, closed loop pulsating heat pipes experience a bulk internal unidirectional fluid circulation. Under such a condition, conventional two-phase flow modeling in capillary tubes may be applied. This has been attempted for single-loop PHPs. A homogeneous model and a separated two-fluid flow model based on simultaneous conservation of mass, momentum and energy, have been developed for an equivalent ‘open flow’ system. The model allows prediction of two-phase flow parameters in each sub-section of the device thereby providing important insights into its operation. The concept of ‘void fraction constraint’ in pulsating heat pipe operation is introduced and its relevance to future modeling attempts is outlined.

Heat Transfer and Flow Analysis in Loop Heat Pipe with Multiple Evaporators Using Network Model

Thermal performance of a loop heat pipe with two evaporators and two condensers was examined using a lumped network model analysis. Thermosyphon-type vertical loop heat pipe and capillary-pump-type horizontal loop heat pipe were calculated by examining the change of heating rate of two evaporators. Calculation results showed that the vapor and liquid flow rates in the loop heat pipe and the thermal conductance of the heat pipe changed significantly depending on the distribution ratio of the heating rate of the multiple evaporators. The thermal performance of the vertical loop heat pipe with two evaporators was also examined and experimental results of flow direction and thermal conductance of the heat pipe agreed with the analytical results. The lumped network model analysis is therefore considered accurate and preferable for the practical design of a loop heat pipe with multiple evaporators.

Experimental Investigation of Loop Heat Pipe with Two Evaporators/Two Condensers under Thermal Vacuum Condition

Multiple loop heat pipe is a high-functional thermal transport device. This work was conducted to confirm the working performance of Multiple loop heat pipe under thermal vacuum ambience with the working fluid ammonia. Asmall multiple loop heat pipe with two evaporators and two ra- diators was designed and fabricated. Then thermal vacuum test was conducted. The heaters were fasten on both evaporators, both radiators, both compensation chambers. In the case that both evaporators were heated, the multiple loop heat pipe can transport 120/120 W for 1.5 m, in the case that only one evaporator was heated, evaporator 1 can transport 80 W for 1.5 m, while eva- porator 2 can transport 120 W for 1.5 m. Two flow regulators were installed near the confluence of liquid line to prevent uncondensed vapor penetrating into returning liquid when the tempera- ture difference exists between two radiators. In the case that the heat load at both evaporators were 40/40 W and one radiator was heated, the flow regulator1 can tolerate the 160 W of heat load which was supplied to radiator1 while the flow regulator2 can tolerate the 100 W of heat load which was supplied to radiator2. To demonstrate the multiple loop heat pipe’s startup behavior at lowheat load, each of the compensation chamber was preheated to change the initial distribution of liquid and vapor in the evaporator and compensation chamber, in the result, each evaporator can start up at 5W through preheating.

Microscale Infrared Observation of Liquid-Vapor Phase Change Process on the Surface of Porous Media for Loop Heat Pipe

Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) performance strongly depends on the performance of a wick that is porous media inserted in an evaporator. In this paper, the visualization results of thermo-fluid behavior on the surface of the wick with microscopic infrared thermography were reported. In this study, 2 different samples that simulated a part of wick in the evaporator were used. The wicks were made by different two materials: polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and stainless steel (SUS). The pore radii of PTFE wick and SUS wick are 1.2 μm and 22.5 μm. The difference of thermo-fluid behavior that was caused by the difference of material was investigated. These two materials include 4 different properties: pore radius, thermal conductivity, permeability and porosity. In order to investigate the effect of the thermal conductivity on wick’s operating mode, the phase diagram on the q-keff plane was made. Based on the temperature line profiles, two operating modes: mode of heat conduction and mode of convection were observed. The effective thermal conductivity of the porous media has strong effect on the operating modes. In addition, the difference of heat leak through the wick that was caused by the difference of the material was discussed.

Performance of an R410a Filled Loop Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger

A simple theoretical model of a heat pipe heat exchanger （HPHE） based on the ε-NTU method is presented. An iterative computer program was developed to predict the overall effectiveness of a counter-flow air-air loop heat pipe heat exchanger （LHPHE）. A thermal resistance network approach for a single thermosyphon was first considered to determine the overall heat transfer coefficients and the NTU＇s for the evaporator and condenser sections. The model incorporated previously determined evaporating and condensing coefficients. The overall effectiveness of the 6, 4 and 2 row LHPHE was then predicted. The theoretical overall effectiveness was compared with experimental data obtained from a R410a filled LHPHE. The experimental overall effectiveness results compared very well with the simulated values, The results showed that the 6 row arrangement performed better than the 4 or 2 row arrangement in the experiment.

Operational Characteristics of Loop Heat Pipe in Microgravity and Normal Gravity Environments

The loop heat pipe(LHP)is an advanced,efficient two-phase heat transfer unit,whose operational performance may be affected by microgravity conditions in contrast to ground-based applications.The performance of on-orbit temperature data and ground test of a copper-propylene LHP with a condenser temperature range of 243.15 K to 303.15 K were employed to compared and analyzed.The LHP has successfully started up for more than 193 times with a good heat transfer performance and a stable start-up stabilization on-orbit under a complex orbital heating environment for more than eight months.With a small heat load(10.0W),the average start-up time is 110.0 s while the start-up temperature ranges from 5.71 K-12.78 K.The start-up time at large temperature differences in the high temperature zone will be higher than the time required for start-up at smaller temperature differences in the low one.When the condenser temperature is 250.0 K,the stable temperature difference on orbit is 3.83 K,which is generally consistent in heat transfer compared to 2.20 K in the ground test.In this paper,we can conclude that the on-orbit flight data up to now can provide a reference to the design of subsequent LHP space applications.

Experimental Study on Cooling Down Process of a Nitrogen-Charged Cryogenic Loop Heat Pipe

Cryogenic loop heat pipes are highly efficient heat transfer devices at cryogenic temperature range,which have promising application prospects in satellites,spacecrafts,electronics,and so on.Cooling down process is a most critical process for a CLHP before startup.At present,secondary loop is a major way for a CLHP to fulfil cooling down and most studies are concentrated on heat transfer characteristics during normal operation.However,few investigations have been carried out on the cooling down process.In this paper,the cooling down process of a nitrogen-charged CLHP assisted with a secondary loop was experimentally investigated.A simple qualitative approach to estimate the cooling down time was proposed according to the law of conservation of energy.The two flow paths of the working fluid in the CLHP during the cooling down process were described.Experimental studies on the cooling down process with various secondary heat loads and working fluid inventory were presented in detail.With the increase of secondary heat load,the elapsed time of Stage III decreased significantly due to the larger mass flow rate in Path I.In addition,the effect of the working fluid inventory on the cooling down time was generally small in the range from 2.99 MPa to 3.80 MPa.However,with 2.80 MPa working fluid inventory,it required much longer cooling down time,which was because of the lack of liquid in the CLHP with low working fluid inventory.Moreover,the influence of gravity on the temperature variation of the components during the experiments was analyzed.This work is beneficial for better understanding of the cooling down process and optimizing of CLHPs.

Visualization Investigation on Temperature Oscillation and Two-Phase Behaviors of A Flat Loop Heat Pipe

To better analyzing the temperature oscillation and the two-phase behavior inside a flat loop heat pipe,visual studies were conducted.Under the 20℃ water cooling and horizontal orientation,the effects of the filling ratio and heat loads on the temperature oscillation were analyzed.Based on the experimental data,the results indicate that owing to the increased system pressure,the temperature oscillation decays as the filling ratio increases from 34%to 58%.Meanwhile,during the startup process,temperature oscillation tends to occur during the boiling and steady stages due to the more violent two-phase behavior,while the temperature curves are smooth during the slow evaporation stage.Moreover,as the heat load increases,the evaporation becomes more intense at the active zone of evaporator,leading to a faster startup process and a higher oscillation frequency.Besides,owing to the synergistic effect of two-phase flow in the compensation chamber caused by heat leak and subcooled liquid backflowing,a“breathing”oscillation behavior of the vapor-liquid interface is observed at the compensation chamber,which further leads to the unstable operation behavior of the loop heat pipe system.

Experimental Study on a Multi-Evaporator Loop Heat Pipe with a Dual-Layer Structure Condenser

A loop heat pipe(LHP)is a kind of passive heat transfer device that uses the latent heat of the working fluid and the capillary forces of the capillary wicks.It demonstrates high heat transfer efficiency,long-distance heat transfer,and high pipeline flexibility.The multi-evaporator loop heat pipe(MeLHP)is a special loop heat pipe with multiple evaporators so that heat collection and emission from multiple heat sources can be achieved.In this paper,a new type of the multi-evaporator loop heat pipe prototype with a dual-layer condenser was designed,which can ensure the uniform and symmetrical layout of pipelines.The working temperature was 20℃,and propylene was used as the working fluid.The performance of the same evaporator in a single-loop LHP was considered as a reference.The experiment was conducted under two heating modes,i.e.single-evaporator heating and multi-evaporator heating,and the working stability of the prototype was verified by applying periodic heating power change and adverse elevation condition.It was observed that the prototype can be successfully started in different heating modes with a heat transfer limit of 230 W.In the test,the four loops were different in heat transfer limit due to the differences of flow resistance,and less power distribution to the loop with lowest heat transfer limit was considered to be beneficial to the prototype’s performance.Meanwhile,the prototype showed good heat sharing characteristic as the maximum temperature difference is low(smaller than 2 K in single-evaporator heating mode and 0.5 K in multi-evaporator heating mode).The prototype was of good operational reliability and found to be adaptable to the adverse elevation and cyclic variation of the heating power to a certain extent.

Effect of the Wick Deflection Angles on Heat Transfer Characteristics for the Flat LHP

Loop Heat Pipe(LHP)is an efficient two-phase heat transfer device,which can be used in waste heat recovery,electronics cooling,aerospace and other fields.The wick,the core component of LHP,plays an important role in its start-up and operation.In this paper,the wick fabricated by 3D printing technology had uniform and interconnected pores.In the experiment,the position of the parallel vapor removal grooves was always fixed towards the vapor outlet.When the cylindrical wick was placed in the evaporator,the rotation angle relative to its central axis could be changed,thus changing the number and shape of the pores facing the vapor removal grooves.The wick deflection angle represented its change in spatial position relative to the fixed vapor removal grooves.The effect of the wick deflection angles on the heat transfer characteristics of the flat LHP was experimentally investigated.It was found that with the change of deflection angle,the number of pores in the evaporation-oriented zone would also change,which had a significant impact on the start-up process and heat transfer performance of LHP.When the deflection angle was 30°,LHP could start fastest at a low heat load of 20 W and operate stable at a high heat load of 180 W.

Development of sintered Ni-Cu wicks for loop heat pipes

The present study fabricated a series of capillary wicks for loop heat pipes (LHPs), using two different methods, the cold-pressing sintering and direct loose sintering, and experimentally investigated the effect of different methods, compositions and sintering parameters on their properties in terms of porosity, permeability and pore radius. Porosity and pore radius were measured by the Archimedes method and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), respectively. Permeability of the wicks was compared by calculation using empirical equation. Results show that capillary wicks were successfully fabricated by using two different methods; the optimal capillary wick was found to be sintered at 650°C for 30 min, using direct loose sintering technique, with 90% nickel and 10% copper. The wicks could reach the porosity of 70.07% and the permeability of 10?13 m2 order, with mean pore radius of 0.54 μm.

Operation characteristics of AMS-02 loop heat pipe with bypass valve

Loop heat pipes （LHPs） were designed for the alpha magnetic spectrometer （AMS-02） to dissipate heat from the cryocoolers. A bypass valve is applied to the LHP to keep the cryocooler temperature above its limit （-20℃） in cold environment. Extensive experiments were performed on operation characteristics of LHPs with the bypass valve for AMS-02 during thermal vacuum and thermal balance （TVTB） test. We found that the bypass valve can start up successfully in cold environment. With the bypass valve, the evaporator temperature is stable and can meet the requirement of the cryocooler. We analyzed three operating modes of the bypass valve. Set point temperature and regulation temperature shifts were observed and their relations with the bypass valve temperature were given.

Numerical Simulations and Analyses of Temperature Control Loop Heat Pipe for Space CCD Camera

As one of the key units of space CCD camera,the temperature range and stability of CCD components affect the image's indexes.Reasonable thermal design and robust thermal control devices are needed.One kind of temperature control loop heat pipe(TCLHP) is designed,which highly meets the thermal control requirements of CCD components.In order to study the dynamic behaviors of heat and mass transfer of TCLHP,particularly in the orbital flight case,a transient numerical model is developed by using the well-established empirical correlations for flow models within three dimensional thermal modeling.The temperature control principle and details of mathematical model are presented.The model is used to study operating state,flow and heat characteristics based upon the analyses of variations of temperature,pressure and quality under different operating modes and external heat flux variations.The results indicate that TCLHP can satisfy the thermal control requirements of CCD components well,and always ensure good temperature stability and uniformity.By comparison between flight data and simulated results,it is found that the model is to be accurate to within 1℃.The model can be better used for predicting and understanding the transient performance of TCLHP.

Experimental investigation on operating behaviors of loop heat pipe with thermoelectric cooler under acceleration conditions

An experimental study was carried out in this article to investigate the transient operating performance of a Dual Compensation Chamber Loop Heat Pipe(DCCLHP) with Thermoelectric Cooler(TEC) under acceleration conditions and ammonia was selected as the working fluid.For the purpose of comparison, experimental work was conducted under terrestrial gravity.Sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the effect of several control parameters such as the heat load, acceleration magnitude and TEC assist on the startup and operating performance of the DCCLHP.Experimental results indicate that the DCCLHP can get to a steady-state operation when the heat load changes from 25 W to 300 W under terrestrial gravity.While under acceleration conditions, the DCCLHP can work at a high operating temperature or even fail to operate, which shows the acceleration effect plays a significant impact on the loop operation.The TEC assist with power of 10 W can improve the operating performance and reduce the operating temperature for the case of small heat load and acceleration magnitude.When the acceleration exceeds 3 g at large heat load, the effect of TEC assist on the operation at large heat load can be ignored.

Experimental Investigation and Visualization Study of the Condensation Characteristics in a Propylene Loop Heat Pipe

At present,the structural design of a loop heat pipe(LHP)condenser mostly relies on experience.To analyze the condensation flow pattern in an LHP and to find a more accurate empirical correlation that can better guide condenser design in existing empirical correlations,a test system was designed and fabricated to observe the condensation phenomenon in the condenser and to evaluate the LHP’s heat transfer performance.Since propylene has a wide temperature range to different temperature control requirements,it was chosen as the working fluid.In this paper,the condensation process in the condenser was observed,and the operating parameters of a propylene LHP were measured at 283 K.The condensation flow patterns in the 2.5 mm×2.5 mm channel mainly included stratified flow,wavy flow and intermittent flow.By comparing the experimental results with four typical condensation flow regime maps,it was found that the Breber and Cavallini flow regime maps can successfully predict most of the condensation flow patterns of the LHP even with ultra-small mass flux.In addition,four condensation heat transfer coefficient correlations were selected to compare the predicted values of heat transfer coefficient with the experimental results.The study showed that the predicted values from the correlation by Cavallini et al.matched 90%of the experimental values well with an error of less than 20%,and this correlation is recommended for highly accurate LHP design.

An Experimental Study on the Performance of a Stainless Steel-Water Loop Heat Pipe under Natural Cooling Condition

Aiming to improve the thermal characteristics of modern electronics, we experimentally study the performance of a stainless steel/water loop heat pipe(LHP) under natural cooling condition. The LHP heat transfer performance, including start-up performance, temperature oscillation and total thermal resistance at different heat loads and with different incline angles have been investigated systematically. Experimental results show that at an optimal heat load(i.e. 60 W) and with the LHP being inclined 60 to the horizontal plane, the total thermal resistance is lowered to be ~0.24 K/W, and the temperature of evaporator could be controlled steadily at around 90 C.

Experimental Investigation on Thermal Characteristics of Long Distance Loop Heat Pipes

Loop heat pipes(LHPs)are attractive two-phase thermal control devices for satellites,electronics and many other applications.They are capable of transporting heat efficiently for long distances up to several meters at any orientation.This paper investigated the heat transfer characteristics of loop heat pipes with long distances and small diameter transport lines.Small stainless steel tubes of 2 mm and 3 mm in inner diameters were chosen as liquid lines and vapor lines of the LHPs.The local thermal resistances in the evaporator of the 6 m-LHP were researched and analyzed,which indicated that the thermal resistance between the aluminum block and the vapor in the vapor channel accounted for a major proportion of the total thermal resistance.The effect of heat sink temperatures on the performance of the 6 m-LHP were compared with 10°C,15°C,20°C and 25°C cooling water temperatures.Moreover,the thermal characteristics of LHPs with transport distances of 2 m and 16 m were also experimentally investigated.The 16 m-LHP could achieve a heat transfer capacity of 100 W and the 2 m-LHP could reach more than 339 W,on the premise of the evaporator temperature below 100°C.The thermal resistance of the 2 m-LHP could achieve 0.125°C/W.