Experimental Investigation of the Thermal Performance of a Wickless Heat Pipe Operating with Different Fluids: Water, Ethanol, and SES36. Analysis of Influences of Instability Processes at Working Operation Parameters

Abstract

In this study, the influences of different parameters on performance of a wickless heat pipe have been presented. Experiments have been carried out for an input power range from 50 W to 300 W, constant cooling water mass flow rate of 0.01 kg/s, and constant temperature at the inlet to condenser of 10 °C. Three working fluids have been tested: water, ethanol, and SES36 (1,1,1,3,3-Pentafluorobutane) with different filling ratios (0.32, 0.51, 1.0). The wall temperature in different locations (evaporation section, adiabatic section, and condenser section), as well as operating pressure inside two phase closed thermosyphon have been monitored. The wickless heat pipe was made of 0.01 m diameter copper tube, which consists of an evaporator, adiabatic, and condensation sections with the same length (0.4 m). For all working fluids, a dynamic start-up effect caused by heat conduction towards the liquid pool was observed. Only the thermosyphon filled with SES36 was observed to have operation limitation caused by achieving the boiling limit in TPCTs (two-phase closed thermosyphons). The geyser boiling effect has been observed only for thermosyphon filled with ethanol and for a high filling ratio. The performance of the thermosyphon determined the form of the heat transfer resistance of the TPCT and it was found to be dependent of input power and filling ratio, as well as the type of working fluid and AR (aspect ratio). Comparison with other authors would seem to indicate that lower AR results in higher resistance; however, the ratio of condenser section length to inside diameter of pipe is also a very important parameter. Generally, performance of the presented thermosyphon is comparable to other constructions.