Parametric Influence on Thermal Performance of Flat Plate Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes

IntroductionMeandering tube pulsating heat pipes(PHPs) , whichare very attractive entrants in the family of heat pipes ,have already found successful applications in cooling powerand microelectronics1]due to their si mple structures ,costeffectiveness and excellent ther mal perfor mance .They alsohave a potential for ther mal control application for spaceand avionics . Since its introduction in1990 s researchactivity in this area has steady increased,including variousexperi mental studies an…

Parametric Influence on Thermal Performance of Flat Plate Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes

This paper presents an experimental study on a flat plate closed loop pulsating heat pipes. It consisted of total 40 channels with square cross section (2 × 2 mm2, 165 mm long) machined directly on an aluminum plate(180× 120×3mm3 ), which was covered by a transparent plate. The working fluid employed was ethanol. As the results, the influence parameters of thermal performance were investigated, such as filling ratio, heat load and operational orientations etc. Filling ratio was found to be a critical parameter, and its effect was rather complicated. According to its values the PHP plate could have four distinct working zones with different operational characteristics and heat transfer performance. The effect of heat load on thermal performance was found to be positive, and in general,increasing the heat load would improve heat transfer performance. In order to analyze the effect of gravity on thermal performance, three different heat modes and total seven tilt angles were tested and compared. Successful operation at all orientations with respect to gravity was also achieved.