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A three-dimensional thermal-fluid analysis of flat heat pipes.

Author(s) : XIAO B., FAGHRI A.

Type of article: Article

Summary

A detailed, three-dimensional model has been developed to analyze the thermal hydrodynamic behaviours of flat heat pipes without empirical correlations. The model accounts for the heat conduction in the wall, fluid flow in the vapour chambers and porous wicks, and the coupled heat and mass transfer at the liquid/vapour interface. The flat pipes with and without vertical wick columns in the vapour channel are intensively investigated in the model. Parametric effects, including evaporative heat input and size on the thermal and hydrodynamic behaviour in the heat pipes, are investigated. The results show that, the vertical wick columns in the vapour core can improve the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the heat pipes, including thermal resistance, capillary limit, wall temperature, pressure drop, and fluid velocities due to the enhancement of the fluid/heat mechanism form the bottom condenser to the top evaporator. The results predict that higher evaporative heat input improves the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the heat pipe, and shortening the size of heat pipe degrades the thermal performance of the heat pipe. [Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. Copyright, 2007].

Details

  • Original title: A three-dimensional thermal-fluid analysis of flat heat pipes.
  • Record ID : 2008-2047
  • Languages: English
  • Source: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer - vol. 51 - n. 11-12
  • Publication date: 2008/06

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