A study of loop heat pipe with biporous wicks

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of various bimodal pore size distributions of biporous wicks for a loop heat pipe (LHP). The study was conducted following a statistical method using a two-level factorial plan involving three variables (particle size of pore former:74–88 and 125–149 μm Na₂CO₃, pore former content:20% by volume and 25% by volume, sintering temperature:700 and 750°C). Finally, the heat transport capability of the LHP between monoporous wicks and biporous wicks has been investigated. Experimental results show that, at the sink temperature of 10°C and the allowable evaporator temperature of 80°C, the heat transfer capacity of the better biporous wick achieved 200 W and the total thermal resistance was 0.31°C/W. The performance is enhanced about 60%, compared to a monoporous wick for 125 W and 0.53°C/W. Therefore, LHPs with biporous wicks are very attractive for high heat flux applications in the future.     

Evaporator critical heat flux in the double-wall artery heat pipe

The fact that heat is transferred into a heat pipe through the liquid-saturated evaporator wick gives rise to the so-called boiling limit on the heat pipe capacity. The composite nature of the double-wall artery heat pipe (DWAHP) wick structure makes the prediction of the evaporator superheat (Δ T_crit) and the critical radial heat flux (q_r) very difficult. The effective thermal conductivity of the wick, the effective radius of critical nucleation cavity, and the nucleation superheat, which are important parameters for double-wall wick evaporator heat transfer, have been evaluated based on the available theoretical models. Empirical correlations are used to corroborate the experimental results of the 2 m DWAHP. A heat choke mounted on the evaporator made it possible to measure the evaporator external temperatures, which were not measured in the previous tests. The high values of the measured evaporator wall temperatures are explainable with the assumption of a thin layer of vapor blanket at the inner heating surface. It has been observed that partial saturation of the wick (lean evaporator) causes the capillary limit to drop even though it may be good for efficient convective heat transfer through the wick. The 2 m long copper-water heat pipe had a peak performance of 1850 W at 23 W/cm² with a horizontal orientation.     

Flow boiling heat transfer of R134a and R404A in a microfin tube at low mass fluxes and low heat fluxes

An experimental investigation of flow boiling heat transfer in a commercially available microfin tube with 9.52 mm outer diameter has been carried out. The microfin tube is made of copper with a total fin number of 55 and a helix angle of 15°. The fin height is 0.24 mm and the inner tube diameter at fin root is 8.95 mm. The test tube is 1 m long and is electrically heated. The experiments have been performed at saturation temperatures between 0 and −20°C. The mass flux was varied between 25 and 150 kg/m²s, the heat flux from 15,000 W/m² down to 1,000 W/m². All measurements have been performed at constant inlet vapour quality ranging from 0.1 to 0.7. The measured heat transfer coefficients range from 1,300 to 15,700 W/m²K for R134a and from 912 to 11,451 W/m²K for R404A. The mean heat transfer coefficient of R134a is in average 1.5 times higher than for R404A. The mean heat transfer coefficient has been compared with the correlations by Koyama et al. and by Kandlikar. The deviations are within ±30% and ±15%, respectively. The influence of the mass flux on the heat transfer is most significant between 25 and 62.5 kg/m²s, where the flow pattern changes from stratified wavy flow to almost annular flow. This flow pattern transition is shifted to lower mass fluxes for the microfin tube compared to the smooth tube.     

Thermal performance of sintered miniature heat pipes

 Investigation has been carried out on the thermal performance of sintered miniature heat pipes with 3 mm outer diameter. In the theoretical analysis, the influence of wick structure parameters is determined by using the theory of capillary limitation. As a result, the degree of importance is found to be as follows: porosity, powder diameter and thickness of wick structure. In the experiments, heat pipes with sintered dendritic copper powder wicks were fabricated and tested. The maximum heat transfer rate is about 13 W with an effective heat pipe length of 20 cm. By adopting the formulae developed for both sintered spherical powder and fiber and adjusting their proportion, the agreement between experimental results and prediction is found to be quite good in the tested operation temperature range. Received on 26 February 2001     

R410A condensation inside a commercial brazed plate heat exchanger

This paper presents the heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drop measured during HFC-410A condensation inside a commercial brazed plate heat exchanger: the effects of saturation temperature, refrigerant mass flux and vapour super-heating are investigated. The heat transfer coefficients show weak sensitivity to saturation temperature and great sensitivity to refrigerant mass flux and vapour super-heating. At low refrigerant mass flux (<20 kg/m² s) the saturated vapour condensation heat transfer coefficients are not dependent on mass flux and are well predicted by Nusselt [W. Nusselt, Die oberflachenkondensation des wasserdampfes, Energy 60 (1916) 541–546, 569–575] analysis for vertical surface: the condensation process is gravity controlled. For higher refrigerant mass flux (>20 kg/m²s) the saturated vapour condensation heat transfer coefficients depend on mass flux and are well predicted by Akers et al. [W.W. Akers, H.A. Deans, O.K. Crosser, Condensing heat transfer within horizontal tubes, Chem. Eng. Prog. Symp. Series 55 (1959) 171–176] equation: forced convection condensation occurs. In the forced convection condensation region the heat transfer coefficients show a 30% increase for a doubling of the refrigerant mass flux. The condensation heat transfer coefficients of super-heated vapour are 8–10% higher than those of saturated vapour and are well predicted by Webb [R.L. Webb, Convective condensation of superheated vapor, ASME J. Heat Transfer 120 (1998) 418–421] model. A simple linear equation based on the kinetic energy per unit volume of the refrigerant flow is proposed for the computation of the frictional pressure drop.     

Flow boiling heat transfer of R134a,R236fa and R245fa in a horizontal 1.030 mm circular channel

This research focuses on acquiring accurate flow boiling heat transfer data and flow pattern visualization for three refrigerants, R134a, R236fa and R245fa in a 1.030 mm channel. We investigate trends in the data, and their possible mechanisms, for mass fluxes from 200 to 1600 kg/m²s, heat fluxes from 2.3 kW/m² to 250 kW/m² at T_sat = 31 °C and ΔT_sub from 2 to 9 K. The local saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficients display a heat flux and a mass flux dependency but no residual subcooling influence. The changes in heat transfer trends correspond well with flow regime transitions. These were segregated into the isolated bubble (IB) regime, the coalescing bubble (CB) regime, and the annular (A) regime for the three fluids. The importance of nucleate boiling and forced convection in these small channels is still relatively unclear and requires further research.     

The influence of oil on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer

The influence of various oil contents in R134a is investigated for nucleate pool boiling on copper tubes either sandblasted or with enhanced heating surfaces (GEWA-B tube). Polyolester oils (POE) (Reniso Triton) with medium viscosity 55 cSt (SE55) and high viscosity 170 cSt (SE170) were used. Heat transfer coefficients were obtained for boiling temperatures between −28.6 and +20.1°C. The oil content varied from 0 to 5% mass fraction. For the sandblasted tube and the SE55 oil the heat transfer coefficients for the refrigerant/oil-mixture can be higher or lower than those for the pure refrigerant, depending on oil mass fraction, boiling temperature and heat flux. In some cases the highest heat transfer coefficients were obtained at a mass fraction of 3%. For the 170 cSt oil there is a clear decrease in heat transfer for all variations except for a heat flux 4,000 W/m² and −10.1°C at 0.5% oil content. The heat transfer coefficients are compared to those in the literature for a smooth stainless steel tube and a platinum wire. For the enhanced tube and 55 cSt oil the heat transfer coefficients are clearly below those for pure refrigerant in all cases. The experimental results for the sandblasted tube are compared with the correlation by Jensen and Jackman. The calculated values are within +20 and −40% for the medium viscosity oil and between +50% and −40% for the high viscosity oil. A correlation for predicting oil-degradation effects on enhanced surfaces does not exist.     

Flow and heat transfer analysis in porous wick of CPL evaporator based on field synergy principle

In order to optimize the structure of a CPL evaporator and enhance heat transfer, a mathematical and physical model is developed to analyze the flow and heat transfer in the porous wick of the evaporator, whose calculation domain is divided into two parts: vapor-saturated region and liquid-saturated region. The characteristics of flow and heat transfer in the porous wick of a CPL evaporator have been numerically studied according to the field synergy principle. The influences of geometrical structures and heat flux on heat transfer enhancement are analyzed and illustrated by the figures in the present paper.     

Flow boiling heat transfer with HFC mixtures in a smooth horizontal tube. Part II: Assessment of predictive methods

In tube heat transfer characteristics of R410A and R404A have been experimentally investigated in a smooth horizontal tube made of stainless steel with an inner diameter of 6 mm and a length of 6 m, uniformly heated by the Joule effect. The evaporation pressures has been varied within the range from 3 to 12 bar, the refrigerant mass flux within the range from 290 to 1100 kg/m² s and the heat flux within the range from 11 to 39 kW/m². In this paper attention is focused on the comparison between experimental results and theoretical results predicted with the most known correlations from literature. The best agreement was found with the results of the correlation of Kandlikar [J. Heat-Transfer, 112 (1990) 219]. A modification of the Kandlikar correlation has been proposed in the present paper to predict the local heat transfer coefficients obtained with the test facility. A correction factor that enhance the influence of the nucleate boiling term has been introduced to take into account the influence of the reduced pressure on the heat transfer coefficients.     

Experimental study on the heat transfer coefficient of water flow boiling in mini/microchannels

The heat transfer coefficients of the evaporative water flow in mini/microchannels are studied experimentally to explore the novel heat dissipation for high power electronics. Two sets of parallel channels which are 61 channels with hydraulic diameter of 0.293 mm and 20 channels with hydraulic diameter of 1.2 mm are investigated respectively. The inlet and outlet temperatures of fluids, and the temperatures beneath the channels are measured to calculate the heat dissipation of the evaporative water in channels. The experiments are carried out with the mass flow rates range from 11.09 kg/(m² s) to 44.36 kg/(m² s) for minichannels and 49.59 kg/(m² s) to 198.37 kg/(m² s) for microchannels. The effective heat flux range from 5 W/cm² to 50 W/cm², and the resulted outlet vapor qualities range from 0 to 0.8. The relations of the heat transfer coefficient with heat flux and vapor quality are analyzed according to the results. The experimental heat transfer coefficients are compared with the prediction of latest developed correlations. A new correlation takes the effect of Bond number is proposed, and be verified that it is effective to predict the heat transfer coefficient of both minichannels and microchannels in a large range of vapor qualities.     

Effective thermal conductivity of heat pipes

Several heat pipes were designed and manufactured to study the effect of the working fluids, container materials, and the wick structures on the heat transfer mechanism of the heat pipes. Also, the effect of the number of wick layers on the effective thermal conductivity and the heat transfer characteristics of the heat pipes have been investigated. It was found that the flow behavior of the working fluid depends on the wicking structures and the number of wick layers. The heat transfer characteristics and the effective thermal conductivity are related directly to the flow behavior. Increasing the number of wick layers (up to 16 layers) increases the heat flux with smaller temperature differences. The flattening phenomena of the thermal resistance was observed after 16 wicks layers due to the entrainment limit.     

Heat transfer in nucleate boiling of R134a/R152a mixtures

Heat transfer coefficients were measured on a horizontal platinum wire and converted to data on horizontal copper tubes. The measurements spanned a large region of pressures p* = p/p_crit = 0.05–0.50 and heat fluxes of q = 10³–1.5 × 10⁵ W/m². The preparation of the test equipment is described. The effects of pressure and concentration on the heat transfer coefficients are shown. The mixture behaves very much like an azeotropic mixture; concentration has only a small effect, the heat transfer coefficients can be obtained from the heat transfer coefficients of the pure components according to their molar fractions. The conversion steps from wire- to tube-data are presented. A comparison of wire-data with correlations given in literature is shown. It renders good agreement.     

Flow boiling heat transfer of R134a in the multiport minichannel heat exchangers

The flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of R134a in the multiport minichannel heat exchangers are presented. The heat exchanger was designed as the counter flow tube-in-tube heat exchanger with refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and hot water in the gap between the outer and inner tubes. Two inner tubes were made from extruded multiport aluminium with the internal hydraulic diameter of 1.1 mm for 14 numbers of channels and 1.2 mm for eight numbers of channels. The outer surface areas of two inner test sections are 5979 mm² and 6171 m², while the inner surface areas are 13,545 mm² and 8856 mm² for 14 and eight numbers of channels, respectively. The outer tube of heat exchanger was made from circular acrylic tube with an internal hydraulic diameter of 25.4 mm. The experiments were performed at the heat fluxes between 15 and 65 kW/m², mass flux of refrigerant between 300 and 800 kg/m² s and saturation pressure ranging from 4 to 6 bar. For instance the boiling curve, average heat transfer coefficients are discussed. The comparison results of two test sections with different the number of channels are investigated. The results are also compared with nine existing correlations. The new correlation for predicting the heat transfer coefficient was also proposed.     

Evaporation heat transfer and flow characteristics of R-134a flowing through internally grooved tubes

This article describes experimental investigations of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-134a flowing inside internally grooved tubes. The test tubes are one smooth tube and four grooved tubes. All test tubes are made from type 304 stainless steel, have an inner diameter of 7.1 mm, are 2,000 mm long and are installed horizontally. The test section is uniformly heated by a DC power supply to create evaporation conditions. The groove depth of all grooved tubes is fixed at 0.2 mm. The experimental conditions are conducted at saturation temperatures of 20, 25 and 30°C, heat fluxes of 5, 10 and 15 kW/m², and mass fluxes of 300, 500 and 700 kg/m² s. The effects of groove pitch, mass flux, heat flux, and saturation temperature on heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop are discussed. The results illustrate that the grooved tubes have a significant effect on the heat transfer coefficient and frictional pressure drop augmentations.     

Mass transport effect on the heat transfer coefficient during boiling of multicomponent mixture

In this work a simplified calculation method taking into account the effect of mass transport on the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) during boiling of multicomponent mixture has been elaborated. The calculation results were compared with own experimental data for ternary system methanol–isopropanol–water and Grigoriev data [1] (acetone–methanol–water). The experiments were performed in different hydrodynamic conditions such as: pool boiling and liquid evaporation at the free surface of the falling film. The experimental data covered wide range of heat fluxes from 6 to 30 kW/m² in the case of liquid evaporation from the falling film and from 30 to 240 kW/m² for pool boiling. The analysis of the results indicates that the mass transfer resistance in the liquid phase caused a significant reduction of experimental value HTC in comparison to so-called ideal HTC.     

Thermal performance of a carbon fiber composite material heat sink in an FC-72 thermosyphon

This study analyzes the use of a carbon fiber epoxy heat sink for evaporator surface enhancement in a FC-72 thermosyphon. The pin-fin heat sink features 945 small-cross-section (1.27 mm by 0.965 mm) fins fabricated with an integral base plate. These fins have a high thermal conductivity (500 W/m K) along the length of the fin. The influence of heat load, thermosyphon fill volume, and condenser operating temperature on the overall thermal performance is examined. The results of this experiment provide significant insight into the possible implementation and potential benefits of carbon-fiber heat sink technology in two-phase flow leading to significant improvements in thermal management strategies for advanced electronics.     

Experimental investigation on capillary force of composite wick structure by IR thermal imaging camera

A novel sintered–grooved composite wick structures has been developed for two-phase heat transfer devices. With ethanol as the working fluid, risen meniscus test is conducted to study the capillary force of wick structures. Infrared (IR) thermal imaging is used to identify and locate the liquid meniscus. The effects of sintered layer, V-grooves and powder size on capillary force are explored. The results show that the capillary force of composite wick structures is larger than that of grooved and sintered ones. Interaction wetting between groove and sintered powder happens during the liquid rise in composite wick, which provides an additional source of capillary force. It exhibits a variation of capillary force of composite wicks with different powder size due to the difference of open pore size and quantity in sintered porous matrix.     

Effect of heater size on ultrasonic enhancement of boiling in water and surfactant solutions

Experiments were performed to study enhancement of heat transfer from the wire of d = 50 µm and the tube of d = 1.5 mm in subcooled pool boiling by ultrasonic waves. The working fluids are clean water and Alkyl (8-16) Glucoside surfactant solutions of different concentrations and bulk temperature 30 °C. The wire resistance was translated to the temperature, using the calibration data, the temperature of the tube was measured by thermocouple. The differences between effect of ultrasonic field on boiling in water for heaters of d = 50 µm and d = 1.5 mm may be summarized as follows: for boiling on the wire of d = 50 µm in subcooled water, T_b = 30 °C, enhancement of heat transfer coefficient due to applied ultrasonic field is about 70% and 20% at heat flux q = 620 kW/m² and q = 1350 kW/m², respectively. For boiling in surfactant solutions at the same boiling conditions enhancement of heat transfer coefficient is in the range of 5–10% at heat flux q = 620 kW/m² and 10–16% at heat flux q = 1350 kW/m² depending on solution concentration. For boiling on the tube of d= 1.5 mm in subcooled water, T_b= 30 ℃, enhancement of heat transfer coefficient due to applied ultrasonic field is about 50% and 45% at heat flux q = 500 kW/m² and q = 2500 kW/m², respectively. The same values are obtained for boiling in surfactant solution of concentration C = 250 ppm. For the wire of d = 50 µm the heat transfer enhancement due to acoustic vibrations in surfactant solutions is not as strong as in water. This fact may be considered as evidence of significant role of relationship between jet flow and ultrasonic field.     

Flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of R123 and R134a in a micro-channel

Flow boiling heat transfer in a single circular micro-channel of 0.19 mm ID has been experimentally investigated with R123 and R134a for various experimental conditions: heat fluxes (10, 15, 20 kW/m²), mass velocities (314, 392, 470 kg/m² s), vapor qualities (0.2–0.85) and different saturation pressures (158, 208 kPa for R123; 900, 1100 kPa for R134a). The heat transfer trends between R123 and R134a are clearly distinguished. Whether nucleate boiling is suppressed at low vapor quality or not determines the heat transfer trend and mechanism in the flow boiling of micro-channels. High convective heat transfer coefficients in the two-phase flow of micro-channels enables nucleate boiling to be suppressed even at low vapor quality, depending on the wall superheat requirement for nucleate boiling. In the case of early suppression of nucleate boiling, specifically R123, heat transfer is dominated by evaporation of thin liquid films around elongated bubbles. In the contrary case, namely R134a, nucleate boiling is dominant heat transfer mechanism until its suppression at high vapor quality and then two-phase forced convection heat transfer becomes dominant. It is similar to the heat transfer characteristic of macro-channels except the enhancement of nucleate boiling and the short forced convection region.     

Theoretical modelling of miniature loop heat pipe

Development in the design and thermal performance of the loop heat pipes (LHPs) demands the corresponding improvement in the theoretical modeling capabilities of these devices. In this paper, mathematical model for assessing the thermal performance of the miniature LHPs (mLHPs) on the basis of the operating temperature and thermal resistance of the loop has been discussed in detail. In order to validate the theoretical model, a mLHP with the flat disk shaped evaporator, 30 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick, was developed and tested with nickel and copper wick structure. By comparison with experimental results, it was found that the theoretical model was able to predict the evaporator temperature and loop thermal resistance very well and within the uncertainties imposed by the underlying assumptions. The mathematical model can be used to validate the design of the mLHP and verify whether the proposed design is consistent with the maximum heat load capacity required for the intended application. In addition to this, the model can assists in understanding and refining the outcomes of the experimental studies.