Heat pipes

From Thermal-FluidsPedia

The heat pipe is a highly effective passive device for transmitting heat at high rates over considerable distances with extremely small temperature drops, exceptional flexibility, simple construction, and easy control with no external pumping power ^[1][2]. Engineers, scientists and graduate students interested in heat pipe science often times struggle and spend considerable time poring through archival publications or the contents of heat pipe books in order to understand and predict a heat pipe system. Being aware of this situation, this review is a self-contained document of the state-of-the-art heat pipe science and technology. The physical significance and performance characteristics, as well as the technological and experimental issues related to this technology are covered in this review. The purpose of this review article is also to make a thorough presentation of the basic and advanced techniques for analyzing various heat pipe systems under a variety of operating conditions and limitations.

The subject of heat pipe science has immense importance in a large variety of traditional engineering disciplines. The sub-discipline of heat pipe science has its foundation in several classical fields, such as fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics and solid mechanics. Heat pipe science also provides an opportunity for scientists and engineers to apply a variety of complex physical phenomena and fundamental laws in the thermal-fluids area to a relatively simple system, such as the heat pipe. This includes the steady and unsteady forced laminar and turbulent convective heat and mass transfer, compressible vapor effects, phase-change phenomena, boiling, condensation/evaporation, two-phase flow, rotating flows, thin film flows, liquid flow in porous media, rarefied gases, interfacial heat and mass transfer, magneto-hydrodynamic flows, and conjugate heat transfer effects.

Heat pipe science and technology cover a wide range of knowledge, please refer to the following topics for detailed information:

• Historical Development of Heat Pipes
• Operation Principles of Heat Pipes
• Types of Heat Pipes

Two-Phase Closed Thermosyphon, Capillary-Driven Heat Pipe, Annular Heat Pipe, Vapor Chamber, Rotating Heat Pipe, Gas-Loaded Heat Pipe, Loop Heat Pipe, Capillary Pumped Loop Heat Pipe, Pulsating Heat Pipe, Monogroove Heat Pipe, Micro and Miniature Heat Pipes, Inverted Meniscus Heat Pipe, Nonconventional Heat Pipes

• Working Fluids and Temperature Ranges of Heat Pipes
• Capillary Wick Designs and Structures in Heat Pipes
• Heat Transfer Limitations of Heat Pipes
• Heat pipe Start Up
• Heat Pipe Characteristics
• Heat Pipe Analysis and Simulation
• Heat Pipe Applications

References