Effect of Increasing Wick Evaporation Area on Heat Transfer Performance for Loop Heat Pipes

Abstract:

This study investigates the effects of increasing the evaporating area of wick in a loop heat pipe (LHP). This work attempts to improve the performance of the loop heat pipe by increasing the number of grooves and thereby the surface area of the wick. The number of grooves is increased from eight to twelve. Experimental results show that increasing the number of grooves not only increases the surface area of the wick but also enhances LHP performance. When the evaporating surface area increases by 50%, which corresponds to increasing the number of grooves from eight to twelve, the heat transfer capacity increases from 310W to 470W and the thermal resistance is reduced from 0.21°C/W to 0.17°C/W. According to preliminary measurements, increasing the number of grooves in the loop heat pipe is highly promising for improving the heat transfer performance.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 711)
• Pages: 223-228
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.711.223
• Online since: June 2013
• Authors: Shen Chun Wu, Jhih Huang Gao, Zih Yan Huang, Dawn Wang, Cho Jeng Huang, Hsih Shing Li, Sheng Jwu Su, Ya Wei Lee
• Keywords: Evaporating Area, Grooves, Loop Heat Pipe, Wick Structures

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