Heat Transfer Studies of a Heat Pipe

Author: Kumar Vikas  

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

ISSN: 1521-0537

Source: Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol.28, Iss.11, 2007-11, pp. : 954-965

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

The present investigation reports a theoretical and experimental study of a wire screen heat pipe, the evaporator section of which is subjected to forced convective heating and the condenser section to natural convective cooling in air. The theoretical study deals with the development of an analytical model based on thermal resistance network approach. The model computes thermal resistances at the external surface of the evaporator and condenser as well as inside the heat pipe. A test rig has been developed to evaluate the thermal performance of the heat pipe. The effects of operating parameters (i.e., tilt angle of the heat pipe and heating fluid inlet temperature at the evaporator) have been experimentally studied. Experimental results have been used to compare the analytical model. The heat transfer coefficients predicted by the model at the external surface of the evaporator and condenser are reasonably in agreement with experimental results.