Theoretical and experimental research on heat transfer performance of the semi-open heat pipe

This paper focuses on the heat transfer performance of semi-open heat pipe which is a new type of heat pipe. After analyzing its condensation heat transfer mechanisms theoretically, several semi-open heat pipes in different length ratios and upper hole diameters are studied experimentally and compared with the same dimensions closed heat pipes. Experimental results show that the heat transfer performance of semi-open heat pipe becomes better by increasing heat transfer rate. At the first transitional point, the heat transfer performance of semi-open heat pipe approaches the level of the closed heat pipe. It is suitable to choose upper small hole about 1 mm in diameter and length ratio larger than 0.6 for the semi-open heat pipe.

Effects of bending on heat transfer performance of axial micro-grooved heat pipe

Heat pipe is always bent in the typical application of electronic heat dissipation at high heat flux,which greatly affects its heat transfer performance. The capillary limit of heat transport in the bent micro-grooved heat pipes was analyzed in the vapor pressure drop,the liquid pressure drop and the interaction of the vapor with wick fluid. The bent heat pipes were fabricated and tested from the bending angle,the bending position and the bending radius. The results show that temperature difference and thermal resistance increase while the heat transfer capacity of the heat pipe decreases,with the increase of the bending angles and the bending position closer to the vapor section. However,the effects of bending radius can be ignored. The result agrees well with the predicted equations.

Experimental Thermal Performance of Different Capillary Structures for Heat Pipes

The temperature control in electronic packaging is the key in numerous applications,to avoid overheating and hardware failure.Due to high capability of heat transfer,good temperature uniformity,and no power consumption,heat pipes can be widely used for heat dissipation of electronic components.This paper reports an experimental thermal analysis of different capillary structures for heat pipes.The wicks considered are metal screens,axial microgrooves,and sintered metal powder.The heat pipes are made of copper,a 200 mm length tube and a 9.45 mm external diameter.Working fluid used was distilled water.The devices are investigated in three positions:0,90,and 270°to the horizontal under powers of 5 up to 45 W.The results show that in horizontal(0°)and with the evaporator under the condenser(270°),the heat pipes showed similar results.Nevertheless,in the reverse condition(the position against the gravity with the evaporator above the condenser,90°),the heat pipe with sintered wick presented the best thermal performance,as it has the lowest thermal resistance and supported a higher power.Besides that,the sintered powder capillary structure demonstrates the most homogeneous thermal behavior for every position,making the most suitable for applications susceptible to diverse inclinations.

Experimental investigation of thermal performance characteristics of sintered copper wicked and grooved heat pipes:A comparative study

Heat pipes are most frequently used for thermal management solutions.Selection of right type of heat pipe for a specific scenario is utmost necessary for best outcomes.The purpose of this research is comparison of thermal performance characteristics of sintered copper wicked and grooved heat pipes,which are mostly used types of heat pipes.Distilled water filled heat pipes were tested through experimentation in gravity assisted position.Experimental outcomes have been compiled in terms of capillary pressure,operating temperature,thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient.Capillary pressure is high in sintered heat pipes compared to grooved heat pipes irrespective of groove dimensions.Grooved heat pipes have lower operating temperature compared to sintered heat pipes at the same heat load.At 8 W,compared to sintered heat pipes,grooved heat pipes have 8.24% lower condenser surface temperature,4.41% lower evaporator surface temperature and 7.79% lower saturation temperature.Thermal resistance of sintered heat pipe is much lower than grooved heat pipe.The maximum relative difference of 63.8% was observed at 8 W.Heat transfer coefficient of sintered heat pipe was observed double compared to grooved heat pipe at 8 W heat load.Thermal resistance and hence heat transfer coefficient of sintered heat pipe change almost in a linear manner with respect to heat load but unexpectedly turning point is observed in thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient of grooved heat pipe.Grooved heat pipes attain equilibrium much earlier compared to sintered ones.Varying heat loads from 4 to 20 W causes variation in equilibrium establishment time from 7 to 4 min for grooved and from 10 to 7 min for sintered heat pipes.

A Comprehensive Review of Thermal Performance Improvement of High-Temperature Heat Pipes

Energy efficiency issues are being focused on the growing concern of global warming and environmental pollution.The high-temperature heat pipe(HTHP) is an effective and environmental-friendly heat transfer device employed in many industries,including solar power generation,high-temperature flue gas waste heat recovery,industrial furnaces,nuclear industries,and aviation.As a critical factor in HTHPs,thermal performance is mainly introduced in the entire paper.To date,most reviews have been published concerning one or several application scenarios.However,to the best of authors' knowledge,it is hard to find a review discussing how to improve the thermal performance of HTHPs comprehensively.First,the impact on the performance of three main components of HTHPs over the past 30 years is introduced:the working fluid,the HTHP structure,and the wick structure.Herein,it is a considerable review of the optimal operating conditions for each direction,and we expect this paper contribute to improving the thermal performance of HTHPs.Then,current numerical simulations and theoretical research on the heat transfer limit of HTHPs are recommended.The significant hypotheses used in numerical simulations and the present theoretical studies are compiled here.Finally,some potential future directions and tentative suggestions for HTHP research are put forward.

Performance of Heat Pipe Utilized for Atmospheric Air Heating

The objective of the present experimental work is to investigate the performance of a wrapped screen heat pipe for atmospheric air heating to compare with the limits of this pipe. The experiment was conducted using copper pipe material and acetone as working fluid at different vapor temperatures. The testing also consists of a heater, a blower for heat removal (condenser), temperature measuring device, a vapor temperature probe, acetone charging system, and a vacuum pump. The copper outside diameterof the pipe is 0.022 m, with a total length of 0.6 m. The results showed that the pipe wall temperature (Tw) for a wrapped screen heat pipe has a rapid increase and takes 50 min to reach steady state at (Q = 63 W). The vapour temperature of working fluid increases as the heat load increases at constant air velocity. It was also been found that the range of vapour temperature deceases as the filling ratio increases that means the increasing of the filling ratio results the decrease of the maximum vapour temperature and the variation in the vapour temperature. The best recorded filling ratio is 0.6 which has the lowest vapour temperature at highest heat load. The maximum heat transport limit for this pipe is 80 W and the maximum temperature difference for air is 5。C.

Visualisation and Heat Transfer Performance of Mini-Channel Flat Heat Pipe with a Binary Mixture

To unravel the intricacies of two-phase gas-liquid flow characteristics and heat transfer behavior,an array mini-channel gravity plate heat pipe(AMGPHP)is proposed in this work,which allows for observing the internal changes in the state of the working fluids.The flow patterns such as pool flow,columnar flow,and slug flow,are experimentally explored and analyzed in detail.It is found that the optimal volume fill ratio is 20%by utilizing start-up time and thermal resistance as performance evaluation metrics.With this fill ratio,a medium optimization strategy by blending ethanol within R141b is proposed and evaluated.In comparison to pure working fluids,the heat transfer performance of AMGFHP in the binary fluid has been significantly augmented due to temperature and concentration shifts resulting from disparate boiling points.Under the 10%volume fraction ethanol blending condition,the equivalent thermal conductivity of the heat pipe is dramatically elevated,with a value of 3110 W/(m·℃),along with the reduction of the minimum start-up power to 4 W.In general,applying such a medium to heat pipes has considerable potential in practical applications.

Numerical simulation of heat release performance of filling body under condition of heat extracted by fluid flowing in buried tube

It is the basic requirement of the synergetic exploitation of deep mineral resources and geothermal resources to arrange the heat transfer tube in filling body. The heat release performance of filling body directly impacts on the exploiting efficiency of geothermal energy. Based on heat transfer theory, a three-dimensional unsteady heat transfer model of filling body is established by using FLUENT simulation software. Taking the horizontal U-shaped buried pipe as research object, the variation of temperature field in filling body around buried pipe is analyzed during the heat release process of filling body;the initial temperature of filling body, the diameter of buried pipe, the inlet temperature and inlet velocity of heat transfer fluid influencing of coupling heat transfer, which exists between heat transfer fluid and surrounding filling body within a certain axial distance of buried tube, and influencing of temperature difference between inlet and outlet of heat transfer fluid and on heat transfer performance of filling body are also discussed. It not only lays a theoretical foundation for the synergetic exploitation of mineral resources and geothermal energy in deep mines, but also provides a reference basis for the arrangement of buried pipes in filling body as well as the selection of working conditions for heat transfer fluid.

Experimental Study on Heat Transfer Performance of Pulsating Heat Pipe with Refrigerants

The effects of different refrigerants on heat transfer performance of pulsating heat pipe(PHP) are investigated experimentally.The working temperature of pulsating heat pipe is kept in the range of 20℃-50℃.The startup time of the pulsating heat pipe with refrigerants can be shorter than 4 min,when heating power is in the range of 10W-100W.The startup time decreases with heating power.Thermal resistances of PHP with filling ratio 20.55% were obviously larger than those with other filling ratios.Thermal resistance of the PHP with R134a is much smaller than that with R404A and R600a.It indicates that the heat transfer ability of R134a is better.In addition,a correlation to predict thermal resistance of PHP with refrigerants was suggested.

Full visualization and startup performance of an ammonia pulsating heat pipe

In this paper,a novel study on full visualization and startup performances of pulsating heat pipe using ammonia as working fluid are experimented.The tested pulsating heat pipe,consisting of 6 turns,is fully made of quartz glass tubes with 6 mm outer diameter and 2 mm inner diameter.The filling ratio is 70%.Wall temperature fluctuations of several key positions are recorded under a series charge of heat inputs.The visualization investigation is conducted to observe the oscillations and circulation flows with the advantage of high quality digital video camera,by which the unique thermodynamic behaviors are able to recognize and analyze more easily.The experimental results show that the startup power required by the ammonia Pulsating Heat Pipe(PHP)is very small,owing to particular identities of ammonia.It is observed that there are also some unevenly distributions in slug-train during initial and operating state.Phenomena such as circulation flows and local oscillations coupling breaking up of bubbles and formation of slugs are observed.

Thermal Performance of a Micro Heat Pipe Array for Battery Thermal Management Under Special Vehicle-Operating Conditions

The thermal management of battery systems is critical for maintaining the energy storage capacity,life span,and thermal safety of batteries used in electric vehicles,because the operating temperature is a key factor affecting battery performance.Excessive temperature rises and large temperature differences accelerate the degradation rate of such batteries.Currently,the increasing demand for fast charging and special on-vehicle scenarios has increased the heat dissipation requirements of battery thermal management systems.To address this demand,this work proposes a novel micro heat pipe array(MHPA)for thermal management under a broadened research scope,including high heat generation rates,large tilt angles,mild vibration,and distributed heat generation conditions.The experimental results indicate that the temperature difference is maintained 3.44°C at a large heat generation of 50 W for a limited range of tilt angles.Furthermore,a mild vehicle vibra-tion condition was found to improve temperature uniformity by 3.3°C at a heat generation of 10 W.However,the use of distributed heat sources results in a temperature variation of 3.88°C,suggesting that the heat generation distribution needs to be considered in thermal analyses.Understanding the effects of these special battery-operating conditions on the MHPA could significantly contribute to the enhancement of heat transfer capability and temperature uniformity improvement of battery thermal management systems based on heat pipe technologies.This would facilitate the realization of meeting the higher requirements of future battery systems.

Experimental Research on Thermal Performance of Ultra-Thin Flattened Heat Pipes

Ultra-thin flattened heat pipe(UTHP) is an effective solution to solve the problem of high-power density heat dissipation in narrow space. The key factors that determine its thermal performance include: the shapes and sizes of the UTHP, the wick structure, the type of working fluid and its filling ratio. The change in the filling ratio means not only a change in the amount of the working fluid, but also a change in the space distribution of the gas and liquid phases inside the heat pipe. Therefore, it is important to explore the effect of liquid filling ratio on the thermal performance of UTHP. It can provide effective guidance for the production of UTHP. In this work, experiments were conducted on four groups of UTHPs with different mesh wicks under a series of liquid filling ratios. The results demonstrate that the volume of the filling working fluid should account for 22%-37% of the total internal volume of the UTHP to avoid deterioration of heat transfer during the operation of the UTHP. In addition, a prediction model of the evaporator temperature has been established to provide guidance for the application of UTHPs.

Influence of Filling Ratio and Working Fluid Thermal Properties on Starting up and Heat Transferring Performance of Closed Loop Plate Oscillating Heat Pipe with Parallel Channels

Using ethanol or acetone as the working fluid, the performance of starting up and heat transfer of closed-loop plate oscillating heat pipe with parallel channels(POHP-PC) were experimentally investigated by varying filling ratio, inclination, working fluids and heating power. The performance of the tested pulsating heat pipe was mainly evaluated by thermal resistance and wall temperature. Heating copper block and cold water bath were adopted in the experimental investigations. It was found that oscillating heat pipe with filling ratio of 50% started up earlier than that with 70% when heating input was 159.4 W, however, it has similar starting up performance with filling ratio of 50% as compared to 70% on the condition of heat input of 205.4 W. And heat pipe with filling ratio of 10% could not start up but directly transit to dry burning. A reasonable filling ratio range of 35%-70% was needed in order to achieve better performance, and there are different optimal filling ratios with different heating inputs- the more heating input, the higher optimal filling ratio, and vice versa. However, the dry burning appeared easily with low filling ratio, especially at very low filling ratio, such as 10%. And higher filling ratio, such as 70%, resulted in higher heat transfer( dry burning) limit. With filling ratio of 70% and inclination of 75°, oscillating heat pipe with acetone started up with heating input of just 24 W, but for ethanol, it needed to be achieved 68 W, Furthermore, the start time with acetone was similar as compared to that with ethanol. For steady operating state, the heating input with acetone was about 80 W, but it transited to dry burning state when heating input was greater than 160 W. However, for ethanol, the heating input was in vicinity of 160 W. Furthermore, thermal resistance with acetone was lower than that with ethanol at the same heating input of 120 W.

A review on application of nanofluid in various types of heat pipes

Nanotechnology is widely used in heat transfer devices to improve thermal performance.Nanofluids can be applied in heat pipes to decrease thermal resistance and achieve a higher heat transfer capability.In the present article,a comprehensive literature review is performed on the nanofluids’ applications in heat pipes.Based on reviewed studies,nanofluids have a high capacity to boost the thermal behavior of various types of heat pipes such as conventional heat pipes,pulsating heat pipes,and thermosyphons.Besides,it is observed that there must be a selected amount of concentration for the high-performance utilization of nanoparticles;high concentration of nanoparticles causes a higher thermal resistance which is mainly attributed to increment in the dynamic viscosity and the higher possibility of particles’ agglomeration.Enhancement in heat transfer performance is the result of increasing in nucleation sites and the intrinsically greater nanofluids’ thermal conductivity.

Numerical Simulation and Optimization of a Mid-Temperature Heat Pipe Exchanger

In this paper,we take the mid-temperature gravity heat pipe exchanger as the research object,simulate the fluid flow field,temperature field and the working state of heat pipe in the heat exchanger by Fluent software.The effects of different operating parameters and fin parameters on the heat transfer performance of heat exchangers are studied.The results show that the heat transfer performance of the mid-temperature gravity heat pipe exchanger is the best when the fin spacing is between 5 mm and 6 mm,the height of the heat pipe is between 12 mm and 13 mm,and the inlet velocity of the fluid is between 2.5 m/s to 3 m/s.

Experiment investigation on visualization and operating characteristics of closed loop plate oscillating heat pipe with parallel channels

Using ethanol or acetone as the working fluid, visualization of oscillations in steady state was observed visually by high-speed cameras, and temperature oscillating and heat transfer characteristics of closed-loop plate oscillating heat pipe with parallel channels(POHP-PC) were experimentally investigated by varying liquid filled ratios(50%, 70%, 85%), section scales(1 mm×1 mm and 1 mm×1.5 mm), inclination angles, working fluids and heating inputs. It was found that during operating there was mixed flow consisting of plug flow and annular flow in channels of oscillating heat pipe at steady-state. There was an equilibrium position for working fluid of condenser during oscillating, and periodic oscillations occurred up and down in the vicinity of equilibrium position. With heat input increasing, equilibrium position rose slowly as a result of vapor pressure of evaporation.Evaporation temperature oscillating amplitude possessed a trend of small-large-small and frequency trend was of small-large during steady-state. It may be generally concluded that temperature, whether evaporator or condenser, fluctuated sharply or rose continuously when oscillating heat pipe coming to dry burning state. Simultaneously, it was found that temperature difference of cooling water possibly dropped with heat input rising during dry burning state. Thermal resistance of No. 2 with acetone was lower than that of No. 1 during experiments, but No. 2 achieving heat transfer limit was earlier than No. 1. However, with ethanol, thermal resistance of No. 1 and No. 2 were similar with the heating input less than 110-120 W and filling ratios of 50% and 70%. And with filling ratio of 85%, heating transfer performance of No. 2 was better compared to No. 1 during all the experiments.

Analysis of Heat Transfer of a Flat Plate Oscillating Heat Pipe, for Different Surfaces

Recent and constant demands for greater power densities and smaller sizes of electronic systems have stimulated the growth of new designs of different passive heat transfer methods such as heat pipes. Particularly, OHPs （Oscillating Heat Pipes） are relatively novel devices, capable of removing high heat rates over long and short distances with not much temperature drop. This study concentrates on the design, building and assembling a test rig in order to analyse the flow pattern ofdeionised water through a 5 turns flat plate oscillating heat pipe under different heat inputs, which was made in the school of engineering and materials science of the Queen Mary University of London by two energy M.Sc. students. The filling ratio of the water is 40%. Furthermore an experimental study on the OHP thermal performance is carried out in order to examine the effects of different surface wet conditions： super hydrophilic, hydrophilic and cleaned brass. It is demonstrated the formation of liquid slugs and vapour plugs of the water along the channels. The experimental results showed that the hydrophilic surface tends to be more energy efficient. The heat transfer performance of the super-hydrophilic and hydrophilic is higher than brass by 5-12% and 15-20% respectively.

Challenges and recent progress in thermal management with heat pipes for lithium-ion power batteries in electric vehicles

Electric vehicles(EVs)are globally undergoing rapid developments,and have great potentials to replace the traditional vehicles based on fossil fuels.Power-type lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)have been widely used for EVs,owing to high power densities,good charge/discharge stability,and long cycle life.The driving ranges and acceleration performances are gaining increasing concerns from customers,which depend highly on the power level of LIBs.With the increase in power outputs,rising heat generation significantly affects the battery performances,and in particular operation safety.Meanwhile,the cold-start performance is still an intractable problem under extreme conditions.These challenges put forward higher requirements for a dedicated battery thermal management system(BTMS).Compared to traditional BTMSs in EVs,the heat pipe-based BTMS has great application prospects owing to its compact structure,flexibility,low cost,and especially high thermal conductivity.Encompassing this topic,this review first introduces heat generation phenomena and temperature characteristics of LIBs.Multiple abuse conditions and thermal runaway issues are described afterward.Typical cooling and preheating methods for designing a BTMS are also discussed.More emphasis on this review is put on the use of various heat pipes for BTMSs to enhance the thermal performances of LIBs.For lack of wide application in actual EVs,more efforts should be made to extend the use of heat pipes for constructing an energy-efficient,cost-effective,and reliable BTMS to improve the performances and safety of EVs.

Experimental research on heat transfer of pulsating heat pipe

Experimental research was conducted to understand heat transfer characteristic of pulsating heat pipe in this paper, and the PHP is made of high quality glass capillary tube. Under different fill ratio, heat transfer rate and many other influence factors, the flow patterns were observed in the start-up, transition and stable stage. The effects of heating position on heat transfer were discussed. The experimental results indicate that no annular flow appears in top heating condition. Under different fall ratios and heat transfer rate, the flow pattern in PHP is transferred from bulk flow to semi-annular flow and annular flow, and the performance of heat transfer is improved for down heating case. The experimental results indicate that the total heat resistant of PHP is increased with fill ratio, and heat transfer rate achieves optimum at filling rate 50%. But for pulsating heat pipe with changing diameters the thermal resistance is higher than that with uniform diameters.