Heat Pipes

OPERATION OF HEAT PIPE:

 A heat pipe is a simple device with no moving parts that can transfer large
quantities of heat over fairly large distances essentially at a constant
temperature without requiring any power input.
 A heat pipe is basically a sealed slender tube containing a wick structure
lined on the inner surface and a small amount of fluid such as water at the
saturated state, as shown in Figure 4.1.
 It is composed of three sections: evaporator section at one end, where
heat is absorbed and the fluid is vaporized; a condenser section at the
other end, where the vapor is condensed and heat is rejected; and the
adiabatic section in between, where the vapor and the liquid phases of
the fluid flow in opposite directions through the core and the wick,
respectively, to complete the cycle with no significant heat transfer
between the fluid and the surrounding medium.
 The operation of a heat pipe is based on the thermodynamic properties
of a fluid vaporizing at one end and condensing at the other end.
 Initially, a wick of the heat pipe is saturated with liquid and the core
section is filled with vapor, as shown in Figure 4.1.


 Heat pipes and thermosyphons both operate on a closed two-phase cycle
and utilize the latent heat of vaporization to transfer heat with very small
temperature gradients.
 Thermosyphons, however, rely solely on gravitational force to return the
liquid phase of the working fluid from the condenser to the evaporator,
while heat pipes utilize some sort of capillary wicking structure to
promote the flow of liquid from the condenser to the evaporator.
 Surface tension is an important phenomenon in heat pipes

HEAT TRANSFER LIMITATIONS

Heat pipes undergo various heat transfer limitations, depending on the

working fluid, the wick structure, the dimensions of heat pipes, and the
operational temperatures. Heat pipes can be limited in one of four ways:

1. Capillary limitation. There is insufficient capillary pressure to pump

the working fluid back to the condenser. Although heat pipe
performance and operation are strongly dependent on shape, working
fluid, and wick structure, the fundamental phenomenon that governs
the operation arises from the difference in the capillary pressure
across the liquid-vapor interfaces in the evaporator and condenser
sections

2. Sonic limitation. The vapor velocity inside of the heat pipe reaches the
sonic velocity limitation, causing choked flow.
The sonic limitation also can occur in heat pipes during start-up at
low temperatures. The low temperature reduces the speed of sound in
vapor core. A sufficiently high mass flow rate can cause sonic flow
conditions and generate a shock wave that chokes the flow and restricts
a pipe’s ability to transfer heat to the condenser.
3. Entrainment limitation. Liquid droplets are entrained in the vapor flow
and carried back to the condenser.

4. Boiling limitation. The evaporator heat flux is so high that boiling occurs
in the evaporator wick.

5. Viscous Limitation: At very low operating temperatures, the vapor

pressure difference between the evaporator and the condenser regions
of a heat pipe or thermosyphon may be extremely small.

Maximum Capillary Pressure Difference

For a heat pipe to function properly, the net capillary pressure

difference (or drop) between the evaporator and condenser must be
greater than the summation of all the pressure losses occurring
throughout the liquid and vapor flow paths. The maximum capillary
pressure difference will be
 Although calculating the liquid pressure drop occurring in the
wicking structure of a heat pipe is relatively straight forward,
calculating the vapor pressure gradient is significantly more
difficult.
 Because of the large difference in the density of these two phases,
the vapor velocity must be significantly higher than the velocity of
the liquid phase.
 Initial pressure gradient in the liquid phase is typically negligible
and therefore has been omitted. However, the inertial pressure
gradient in the vapor phase may make a significant contribution to
the flow characteristics.
 The phase transition pressure drop may be important in micro heat
pipes, but typically, it is neglected. Exceptions are cases in porous
wicks at very low temperatures. Equation (4.10) may be simplified.
The maximum capillary pressure limit will become,
Surface Tension
Study the following other types of Heat Pipes as Home work:

 VARIABLE CONDUCTANCE HEAT PIPES (VCHP)

 Gas-Loaded Heat Pipes
 LOOP HEAT PIPES
 MICRO HEAT PIPES
 Pulsating heat pipes
evaporator.