Open Access
ARTICLE
LOW-ORDER MODEL OF THE DYNAMICS AND START-UP OF A PULSATING HEAT PIPE
Felix Schilya,∗, Wolfgang Polifkea
a Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
∗ Corresponding author. Email: schily@tfd.mw.tum.de
Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2021, 17, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.17.16
Abstract
A simple open-loop pulsating heat pipe model is proposed, which allows to analytically determine the start-up behavior by a linear stability analysis.
Two distinct types of instability can occur in such a pulsating heat pipe: oscillatory and non-oscillatory. This paper demonstrates that for bubbles
consisting of non-condensible gas, large temperature gradients along the wall are required to achieve start-up, whereas start-up is fairly easy to
achieve when there is only a single working medium that forms bubbles from its vapor. The study also finds that surface tension as such only
influences start-up indirectly, while contact angle hysteresis dampens out any instabilities.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Schily, F., Polifke, W. (2021). LOW-ORDER MODEL OF THE DYNAMICS AND START-UP OF A PULSATING HEAT PIPE.
Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, 17(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.17.16