Transient Numerical Model on the Design Optimization of the Adiabatic Section Length for the Pulsating Heat Pipe

Abstract

In the application of pulsating heat pipes (PHPs), the lengths of the adiabatic sections are usually determined by the distance between the heat source and the heat sink, and have important effects on the performance of PHPs. However, there was little research on the effect of the adiabatic section lengths on the performance of PHPs. In this work, a new transient numerical model was proposed to investigate the transient flow and the heat transfer for PHPs with various adiabatic section lengths of 60, 120, 180, and 240 mm. Based on the numerical results, the flow and the heat transfer characteristics of the PHPs were analyzed. It was found that the flow velocities in the PHP with different adiabatic lengths increased with the increase in the heat input, and the mean velocity was calculated to be in the range of 0.139–0.428 m/s, which was consistent with the previous experimental results. The start-up performance of the PHP was better with shorter adiabatic section length. Furthermore, the thermal resistances of the PHPs with different adiabatic section lengths were calculated to analyze the effects of the adiabatic section length on the performance of the PHP. The results showed that when the heat input was 20 W, the PHP with the adiabatic section of 60 mm showed the lowest thermal resistance, whereas the PHP with longer adiabatic section length presented lower thermal resistance at high heat input (≥25 W).