Conference on New Energy Technologies for Environmental Development in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt

Heat Pipes:
Theory and Operation
Dr. Eng. Mohammed M. El-Khayat
NREA, P.O.Box 4544 Masakin Dobat El-Saff, El-Hay El-Sades,
Nasr city, Cairo, Egypt.
e-mail : mohamed_elkhayat@hotmail.com

Abstract
One of the main objectives of this study is to obtain an understanding of heat pipes
and their role in energy transmission, especially in the field of solar energy. Heat pipes are
highly efficient heat transfer devices, which use the continuous evaporation/condensation of a
suitable working fluid for two-phase heat transport in a closed system. Since the latent heat of
vaporization is very large, heat pipes transport heat at small temperature difference, with high
rates. Due to a variety of advantage features these devices have found a number of
applications both in space and terrestrial technologies. The theory of operation and the
characteristics of different types of heat pipes are described, and their performance limitations
are discussed and presented in this study. Moreover, A description of using high-temperature
non-concentrating collectors is illustrated.

Key Words: Heat pipes, Composite wicks, Homogenous wicks, and Evacuated solar
collectors.

1- Introduction
Historically, the first application of gravity heat pipes was in boilers and bakeries, the
so-called Perkins tube was widely used in the 19th century. This is a bare, thick-walled carbon
steel tube filled with a certain amount of water, about 1/3 of the total tube volume, and
hermetically sealed. The lower tube end was heated by flue gases, the upper end extended into
the boiler where it was used to generate steam.

In 1938 a patent was granted in the USA which describes a tube incorporating
capillary grooves to aid liquid distribution and hence vaporization in boilers. The first patent
of a heat pipe employing a capillary wick for pumping liquid against gravity was applied by
Gaugler in 1944 as a two-phase heat transport device for refrigerators. It was supposed to
allow movement of the working fluid without pumps and without natural convection, by
utilization of the capillary force generated by a capillary wick, Asselman (1973) and Groll
(1992).

In 1963 the capillary pumping principle was independently re-invented by Grover and
his co-workers at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in their search for a new means of
efficient heat transport in space. Grover called the device “Heat Pipe” and characterized it in
the following paragraph “With certain limitations on the manner of use, a heat pipe may be
regarded as a synergistic engineering structure, which is equivalent to a material having a
thermal conductivity greatly exceeding than of any known metal”.

The first heat pipe had been built by Grover and his colleagues used water as a
working fluid. Shortly after it, a sodium heat pipe was investigated, then lithium and silver as
working fluids were followed. In addition, heat pipes may extend for several meters in length
and have an equivalent diameter of up to several centimeters. They also come in miniature
sizes for special medical applications, e.g. thermal treatment of cancer tumors, and industrial
applications, and cooling of micro ships of high performance computer. The cross section and
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Heat Pipes: Theory and Operation
Conference on New Energy Technologies for Environmental Development in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt

geometry of a heat pipe may take different shapes, i.e. circular, rectangular, .. etc, and a single
heat pipe may operate with a single or multiple heat sources depending on the application
such as evacuated collectors, El-Genk (1995), and Gillet(1995).

Nowadays, heat pipes applications span a wide range of temperatures from 270°C
below zero to 2000°C, and for each temperature range there is a number of suitable working
fluids. For example, for an application in which the temperature varies from 30°C to 100°C,
water can be used as a working fluid. On the other hand, the wick and heat pipe walls are
made of copper or stainless steel.

2-Theory Of Operation
Heat pipe is a closed tube or chamber of different shapes whose inner surface is lined
with a porous capillary wick as shown in Fig.(1). The wick is saturated with the liquid phase
of a working fluid, and the remaining volume of the tube contains the vapor phase.
Circulation of working fluid is an important heat pipe factor. Consequently, the maximum
possible circulation is required to obtain the maximum heat transport capability of the heat
pipe.

Fig. (1): Components of a heat pipe (After Groll and Rosler

(1992)

Heat applied at the evaporator by an external source vaporizes the working fluid in
that section. The resulting difference in pressure drives vapor from the evaporator to the
condenser where it condenses releasing the latent heat of vaporization, to a heat sink in that
section of the pipe. El- Khayat (1995) reported that there are several types of heat pipes, such
as, heat pipe with flat cross section, in order to provide a wide area for both evaporator and
condenser, and gravity assisted heat pipe as shown in Fig. (2.a) and Fig.(2.b). The main
components of the heat pipe will be described in the following paragraphs:-

2.1- Wick Structure

El-Khayat (1995), mentioned that the purpose of a wick is to provide:-
1- The necessary flow passages for the return of the condensed liquid,
2- Surface pores at the liquid-vapor interface for the development of capillary
pumping pressure, and
3- A heat flow path between the inner wall of the container and the liquid-vapor
interface.
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Conference on New Energy Technologies for Environmental Development in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt

Optional block
Of wick material Heat input Evaporator

Container

Liquid Vapor
flow flow

Wick

Heat output Condenser

(a) Flat plate heat pipe

Heat output Condenser

Vapor
flow
Liquid Adiabatic
flow section
Wick

Heat input
Evaporator

(b) Gravity assisted heat pipe

Fig.(2): Different types of heat pipes

In addition, mesh screen, fiberglass, sintered porous metal, and narrow grooves cut in
the inner surface of the container wall have been used as wick material. Wick structure can be
classified into two general classes, namely, homogenous wicks and composite wicks. The
homogenous wicks are made of a single material and the composite wick consists of two or
more materials. Several examples of homogenous and composite wicks are illustrated in Fig.
(3).

2.2- Working Fluid

For operating a heat pipe it is essential that, its wick structure must remain saturated
with the working fluid. Heat pipes have been developed with working fluids ranging from
cryogenic liquids to liquid metals. Accordingly, heat pipes can be categorized into cryogenic,
moderate-temperature, and liquid-metal types. As a result, heat pipes can be operated in a
wide temperature range, from some degrees Kelvin, with liquid helium as a working fluid, up
to about 2300°K, with liquid silver as a working fluid.

The most common working fluid is ammonia. The standard working fluid for space
applications, and some refrigerants is water. Meanwhile, the standard working fluid for most
terrestrial applications, some organic working fluids; and alkali-metals, especially sodium as
the standard high temperature working fluid.

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Conference on New Energy Technologies for Environmental Development in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt

1- Wrapped screen 2- Sintered metal

3- Crescent 4- Annular

(a) Homogenous wick structure

1- Slab 2- Composite

(b)Types of composite wicks

Fig.(3): Types of homogeneous and composite wicks

3- Performance Limits
Chi(1976) mentioned that, during the operation of heat pipes, there are some
performance limits on these devices. These limits are; the limit on condenser pressure
depression, viscous limit, heat transport ability, capillary limit, shocking of vapor flow, sonic
limit, disruption of the liquid flow by nucleate boiling in the wick, boiling limit, and tearing
of liquid off the liquid-vapor interface by vapor flowing at high velocity, entrainment limit.
These limits will be described briefly in the following:-

Viscous limit, for very low operating temperature, close to the melting point, and low
vapor densities, the vapor flow is governed by viscous forces. The axial heat flow increases
with decreasing pressure at the condenser end. If a condenser vapor pressure approaching
zero, viscous limit is reached.

When the total pressure drop in the heat pipe is equal to the maximum capillary
pressure difference, then the maximum axial heat transport capability is reached. Another
increase of the heat input will lead to an interruption of the condensate back flow to the
evaporator, which will then dry out or burn out. This performance limit is called the capillary
pumping limit or wick limit, Shibayama and Morooka (1980).

Another condition occurs when the velocity in the adiabatic section becomes sonic. At
this point the flow is shocked, and the maximum flow rate is attained. Clearly, the heat
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transported through the heat pipe can not be increased further beyond this point which is
commonly called the sonic limit, El-Naquib(1990).

For high radial heat fluxes to the evaporator nucleate boiling can occur. If the vapor
bubbles would not expelled from the capillary structure a vapour layer will effectively
insulate the heated evaporator which gets over-heated (burned out), this limit is called boiling
limit, Chi(1976) and Shibayama and Morooka (1980).

In addition, El-Khayat(1995) reported that, for high gas velocities, the interface
between the gas and liquid becomes highly agitated and disturbance waves appear. These
waves are torn from the surface giving rise to drop entrainment in the gas core. This can
interrupt the liquid supply to the evaporator and the heated evaporator can dry out or burn out,
this limit is called the inter action limit or entrainment limit.

Finally, there are some additional factors that affect heat pipe performance such as the
temperature characteristics of the heat pipe, the interface condition between the heat pipe and
its external heat source and sink, and the effects of various heat pipe control techniques.

4- Applications of Heat Pipes

As mentioned before, heat pipes have a wide range of the industrial applications such
as boilers, evaporators, bakeries, and special medical applications. In this section a brief
description for using heat pipes in designing high-temperature non-concentrating collectors
will be presented.

4.1- High-Temperature Non-concentrating Collectors

Loss of heat from the absorber plate by conduction and convection can be eliminated by
removing nearly all the air in the space between the absorber plate and the glazing. Effective
suppression of conduction requires a pressure of about 10-4 mmHg, or a "hard" vacuum.
Unless glass supports are provided in the typical flat-plate collector, a flat-glass surface would
collapse with this pressure difference, and the maintenance of a vacuum seal would also be
difficult. For these reasons, evacuated collectors have generally involved tubular designs,
which have inherently higher strength to withstand external pressure. Some of the designs
involve flat absorbers, others employ cylindrical absorbing surfaces, but all are of the non-
concentrating type Dickmson and Cheremisinoff (1980).

In one U.S. type, sketched in Fig. (4.A), the absorber is a thin, blackened flat metal
sheet supported across the diameter of a single evacuated glass tube, with pipe connections
for liquid circulation sealed into one end of the tube. Liquid is circulated through the pipe,
which is in close thermal contact with the absorber plate. A selective black absorbing surface
suppresses thermal radiation, so all forms of heat loss are small at ordinary space-heating
temperatures, and operation at temperatures approaching 2000C is possible at satisfactory
efficiency.

In another type, the conventional "vacuum bottle" principle is used, there being a
double glass wall with an evacuated space. Fluid is circulated through the hollow interior of
the inside tube, Fig. (4.B), so the energy absorbed by a black coating deposited on the outer
surface of the inner glass tube is transferred to the fluid. The open ends of individual tubes are
inserted into insulated manifolds which provide the proper fluid flow pattern through tube
multiples.

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Fig. (4): Types of evacuated tube collectors

A third U.S. type is also a double-walled, internally blackened glass tube with a
vacuum between the two glass surfaces, Fig. (4.C). The inner glass tube contains a thin
cylindrical copper "sleeve" to which a copper pipe in the form of a long narrow U is attached.
Liquid is circulated through the copper pipe in series flow with adjacent tubes.

An experimental evacuated tube collector from Germany comprises a corrugated

aluminum heat-transfer surface, with internal liquid passages, tightly fitting a closely packed
array of evacuated single glass tubes which are internally coated with a selective black
absorber, as shown in Fig. (4.D). A flat glass cover is used primarily for weather protection.

A Japanese design involves straight-through flow of liquid in a small copper pipe

bonded to a flat metal absorber plate inside a single evacuated glass tube, Fig. (4.E).
Expansion differences are handled by use of metal bellows bonded to the ends of the glass
tube and to the metal pipe.
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The principle involved is similar in all the types. A selective surface and high vacuum
result in suppression of both radiative and convective losses. With a glass-to- metal
permanent seal or an all-glass seal, loss of vacuum is only a rare occurrence. Even if vacuum
is lost, in a few of many tubes, performance of the entire collector decreases only slightly.
Since the black coating is inside the evacuated space in all designs, it is fully protected from
oxidization, moisture, or any other form of attack.

Although the glass tubes do not involve costly materials and their designs are simple,
manifolding can be expensive. Distribution of liquid flow in series and parallel channels
requires extensive plumbing assemblies, with accompanying requirements for insulation and
weather protection. Freezing of water inside the tubes is unlikely because of the excellent
insulating properties of a vacuum, but the danger of freezing in the manifolds makes the use
of nonfreezing fluids advisable in severe climates.

Compared with most flat-plate designs, evacuated tubular collectors normally have a
smaller fraction of total occupied area actually intercepting solar radiation. Spacing between
tubes, areas required for manifolds, and piping access all require space, which limits coverage
by solar absorbing surface.

The operation of evacuated tubular collectors is accompanied by such a low heat-loss

rate that high-temperature (approaching 200°C) fluid can be obtained at efficiencies
comparable to those realized with non-evacuated types operating at only 100°C.. They are
uniquely suited, therefore, for applications requiring temperatures considerably above those
involved in space -heating and water-heating uses.

5- Conclusion
Heat pipes are very efficient heat transport elements. They can be described as light
weight devices with high thermal conductance. Heat pipes allow the transportation of high
fluxes with small temperature difference with no change in the operating temperature. At
zero-gravity environment and against gravity heat pipes can operate. In addition, there is no
moving mechanical parts in heat pipes, and special sets of them can be used for temperature
control, as thermal diodes and thermal switches. Also, they can be built in difference
geometries and sizes.

6- References
Asselman, G.A. and Green, D.B., "Heat Pipes," Philips Tech. Rev., No. 4, PP 104 -
113, 1973.

Chi, S.W., "Heat Pipe Theory and Practice: A Source Book," Hemisphere Publishing
Corporation, 1976.

Dicknson, W. C. and Cheremisinof, P. N., “Solar Energy Technology Handbook: Part

A Engineering Fundamentals,” Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1980.

El-Genk, M. S., “Industrial and Environment Applications of Heat Pipes," Engineers

Magazine, Vol. 473, July 1995.

El-Khayat, M.M., "Study On Entrainment Fraction Of Air Flow Past A Wetted Porous
Medium," M.Sc. Thesis, Mansoura University, Feb. 1995.

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El-Naquib, A.A., "Entrainment of Liquid From Porous Media By An Air Stream,"

M.SC. Thesis, Mansoura University, 1990.

Gillet, B. “International/ Regional Cooperation on the Production and

Commercialization of Low and Medium Temperature Solar Thermal
Technologies”, Special Communication, 1995.

Groll, M. and Rosler, S., "Operation Principles and Performance of Heat Pipes and
Closed Two- Phase Thermosyphones," J. Non-Equilib. Aermodyn., Vol. 17, PP
91 - 151, 1992.

Shibayama, S. and Morooka, S.,"Study On A Heat Pipe," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
Vol. 23, PP 1003 - 1013, 1980.

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