An experimental study on the thermal performance of ground heat exchanger

A knowledge of ground thermal properties is most important for the proper design of large GHE (ground heat exchanger) systems. Thermal response tests have so far been used primarily not only for in situ determination of design data for GHE systems, but also for the evaluation of grout material, heat exchanger types and groundwater effects. The main purpose has been to determine in situ values of effective ground thermal conductivity, including the effect of groundwater flow and natural convection in boreholes.     

An experimental study of the heat generated during torsional oscillations

The heat generated during torsional oscillations of round aluminium tubes is reported. Static mechanical data for the material are also presented and a correlation of mechanical and thermal energies is obtained. The experiments demonstrate the necessity of including a coupling effect between the temperature field and the deviatoric components of strain.     

An experimental study of the heat transfer in PS foam insulation

Heat transfer mechanisms in 14 samples of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) are examined to reveal the influence of porous foam structure on VIP performance. The samples were produced by in-house equipment that was able to vary the foam structure by modulating the process temperature and pressure. Two parameters are proposed to describe the foam structure, namely, the broken cell ratio and the average cell size. Under a specific solid volume fraction, the average cell size shows a linear dependence on the broken cell ratio. Furthermore, the radiation and conduction heat transport data correlate well with these parameters. Radiation heat transfer increases as the broken cell ratio (cell size) increases, but solid conduction decreases as the broken cell ratio (cell size) increases. Consequently, an optimum broken cell ratio (cell size) exists such that the total heat transport is minimum under a specific solid volume fraction. However, the majority of VIP heat transfer is solid conduction. Solid conduction accounts for more than 80% of the total heat transport and is largely affected by the solid volume fraction. A rule of thumb for improving VIP performance is to reduce the solid volume fraction as much as possible to eliminate solid conduction, and maintain the cell size at an optimum value that is dependent on the solid volume fraction.     

高温下轻质泡沫铝动态力学性能实验

对传统的分离式Hopkinson压杆装置加以改进,设计了一种长杆直接撞击Hopkinson杆的实验方案,检测出低波阻抗材料在高温动态加载下的应力均匀性。对轻质泡沫铝材料的实验表明,在同一撞击速度下,温度越高,试件两端的应力均匀性越差,增加温度与提高撞击速度均会导致泡沫铝材料冲击端与支撑端的应力不均匀性。根据高温下应力均匀性的实验结果,确定高温下试件均匀变形对应的冲击速度,再通过传统的分离式Hopkinson压杆实验得出泡沫铝在高温动态下的力学性能。

     

Investigation of a flat-plate oscillating heat pipe with Tesla-type check valves

Tesla-type check valves were integrated into a flat-plate oscillating heat pipe (FP-OHP) in order to promote and sustain a desired circulatory flow to increase overall thermal performance. Using neutron radiography, gray-scale images capturing the internal flow behavior within two bottom-heated copper FP-OHPs - one with Tesla-type valves (TV FP-OHP) and one without - both charged with water at a filling ratio of 70% - were collected. With the Tesla-type valves installed in the adiabatic section of the TV FP-OHP, it was found that circulation in the desired direction was promoted and that this promotion increased with heat input. The TV FP-OHP consistently possessed a lower thermal resistance than its counterpart without check valves. The percent-reduction in thermal resistance was on-the-order of 15-25% depending on the power input. Implementation of Tesla-type check valves is a promising means for circulatory flow rectification within an OHP, but future research is needed to further optimize valve design, quantity, and alignment.     

An experimental study of transient free-convection heat transfer with mercury in a vertical rectangular channel

An experimental study is presented of the transient and steady-state natural convection heat transfer in mercury following a step change in uniform heat flux of the vertical rectangular channel wall. The fluid was initially stagnant and at a uniform temperature. Temperature distributions were measured during the transient and at steady-state conditions. Heat transfer characteristics of the system were determined from these measurements.     

An experimental study on an oscillating loop heat pipe consisting of three interconnected columns

This paper presents some experimental results of an extensive research on a novel oscillating heat pipe. The heat pipe is formed of three interconnected columns as different from the pulsating heat pipe designs. The dimensions of the heat pipe considered in this study are large enough to neglect the effect of capillary forces. Thus, the self-oscillation of the system is driven by the gravitational force and the phase lag between the evaporation and condensation processes. The overall heat transfer coefficient is found to be approximately constant irrespective of heat load for the experimental cases considered. The results are also compared with the previously published data by other investigators for water as the working fluid and for the same heat input range. The experimental data for the time variation of the liquid column heights and the vapor pressure are correlated algebraically, convenient for practical uses.     

Analytical solution of conjugate heat transfer and optimum configurations of flat-plate heat exchangers with circular flow channels

An analytical solution is developed for conjugate heat transfer in a flat-plate heat exchanger with circular embedded channels. The analysis was carried out for fully-developed conditions in the circular tube and uniform heat flux at the plate boundary. The results are applicable to cooling channels that are 50 μm or more in diameter with a large length–diameter ratio. The thermal characteristics of the heat exchanger have been examined for a wide range of the relevant independent parameters and optimum designs for three different sets of constraints have been presented. It was found that the overall thermal resistance increases with the depth of the tube from the heated surface, as well as the spacing between the tubes. For a given combination of tubes’ depth and spacing, there is a certain tube diameter at which the thermal resistance attains a minimum value.     

Augmentation of heat transfer from heat source placed downstream a guide fence: An experimental study

The present study investigated experimentally the heat transfer from a heat source simulating an electronic chip mounted on a printed circuit board placed downstream of a guide fence on the lower wall of the flow passage with two different aspect ratios (H/W = 0.3 and 1). The channel height to the heat source height ratios (H/B) are of 10 and 3. The effect of the guide fence height (b) and the spacing between the guide fence and the heat source (S) were investigated. The guide fence was orientated such that guide fence extension point was varied from the midpoint of the front face of the heat source to the endpoint of the side face at 5000 ? Re_L ? 30,000. The results for the heat source without guide fence displayed noticeable difference when compared with the flow over smooth plate placed on the lower wall of the flow passage. An enhancement in the convective heat transfer coefficient up to 20% is obtained when decreasing the flow passage height to the heat source height ratio from 10 to 3. Also, higher Nusselt number is located at the front face and the vertical sides of the heat source compared with that of the top surface. Nusselt number increases with the increase in both Reynolds number and the guide fence height while the effect of spacing between the guide fence and the heat source depending on the guide fence height. Correlations for the average Nusselt number were obtained utilizing the present measurements within the investigated range of the different parameters.     

Freestream turbulence effect on flow and heat transfer in the flat-plate boundary layer

Flow and heat transfer in the flat-plate boundary layer is numerically investigated using a differential three-equation turbulence model for the initial freestream turbulence intensity ranging from 1.5 to 9%. An increase in the local friction coefficient and the Stanton number obtained in the calculations is in agreement with the most representative experimental data.     

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.     

Viscous dissipation effects on thermal entrance region heat transfer in pipes with uniform wall heat flux

The analytical solution to Graetz problem with uniform wall heat flux is extended by including the viscous dissipation effect in the analysis. The analytical solution obtained reduces to that of Siegel, Sparrow and Hallman neglecting viscous dissipation as a limiting case. The sample developing temperature profiles, wall and bulk temperature distributions and the local Nusselt number variations are presented to illustrate the viscous dissipation effects. It is found that the role of viscous dissipation on thermal entrance region heat transfer is completely different for heating and cooling at wall. In the case of cooling at wall, a critical value of Brinkman number, Br _c=−11/24, exists beyond which (−11/24<Br<0) the fluid bulk temperature will always be less than the uniform entrance temperature indicating the predominance of cooling effect over the viscous heating effect. On the other hand, with Br < Br _c the bulk temperature T _b will approach the wall temperature T _w at some downstream position and from there onward the bulk temperature T _b becomes less than the wall temperature T _w with T _w > B _b > T ₀ indicating overall heating effect for the fluid. The numerical results for the case of cooling at wall Br < 0 are believed to be of some interest in the design of the proposed artctic oil pipeline.     

Surface tension-driven flow in wickless heat pipes with self-rewetting fluids

Surface tension-driven effects in wickless heat pipes with aqueous solutions of long-chain alcohols are investigated. Flow visualizations and numerical simulation of bubbles behaviour and boiling pattern in transparent capillaries show the potential advantages of “self-rewetting” fluids, i.e. liquid solutions with a non-linear dependence of the surface tension with temperature. Surface tension measurements at different temperatures have been carried out also for a number of ternary aqueous solutions with relatively low freezing points. Some of them interestingly exhibit the same anomalous positive surface tension gradient with temperature as binary self-rewetting solutions. These results may open new horizons toward the development of more efficient heat transfer devices for different applications.     

Temperature control of electrohydrodynamic micro heat pipes

Active thermal control was achieved by using an electrohydrodynamically (EHD) assisted micro heat pipe array. A simulation model of temperature control of EHD micro heat pipes was established in a Matlab Sinulink environment. An experimental model was designed and fabricated to verify the model and identify the factors most influential to the thermal control via EHD micro heat pipe array. Good correspondence between simulations and experiments was achieved. Electric field intensity, set-point temperature and the gap between the upper and lower set-point temperatures were shown to have a dramatic influence on the temperature control.     

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     

Characteristics of low-temperature short heat pipes with a nozzle-shaped vapor channel

This paper presents the results of experimental and numerical studies of heat transfer and swirling pulsating flows in short low-temperature heat pipes whose vapor channels have the form of a conical nozzle. It has been found that as the evaporator of the heat pipe is heated, pressure pulsations occur in the vapor channel starting at a certain threshold value of the heat power, which is due to the start of boiling in the evaporator. The frequency of the pulsations has been measured, and their dependence on the superheat of the evaporator has been determined. It has been found that in heat pipes with a conical vapor channel, pulsations occur at lower evaporator superheats and the pulsation frequency is greater than in heat pipes of the same size with a standard cylindrical vapor channel. It has been shown that the curve of the heat-transfer coefficient versus thermal load on the evaporator has an inflection corresponding to the start of boiling in the capillary porous evaporator of the heat pipe.     

Three-dimensional numerical analysis of heat and mass transfer in heat pipes

A three-dimensional finite-element numerical model is presented for simulation of the steady-state performance characteristics of heat pipes. The mass, momentum and energy conservation equations are solved for the liquid and vapor flow in the entire heat pipe domain. The calculated outer wall temperature profiles are in good agreement with the experimental data. The estimations of the liquid and vapor pressure distributions and velocity profiles are also presented and discussed. It is shown that the vapor flow field remains nearly symmetrical about the heat pipe centerline, even under a non-uniform heat load. The analytical method used to predict the heat pipe capillary limit is found to be conservative.     

An experimental and three-dimensional numerical study on the convective heat transfer inside a trapezoidal duct under constant wall temperature

In this study, steady-state forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics for hydrodynamically fully developed thermally developing three-dimensional turbulent flow in a horizontal smooth trapezoidal duct with corner angle of 75° and hydraulic diameter of 0.043 m were both experimentally and numerically investigated in the Reynolds number range from 2.6 × 10³ to 67 × 10³ for isothermal conditions. Results have shown that there is a good agreement between the present experimental and numerical results.