Experimental Model to Optimize the Design of Cylindrical Heat Pipes for Solar Collector Application

Abstract

A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that use the principles of thermal conductivity and phase change to transfer heat between two ends at almost constant temperature. The thermal peformance of cylindrical heat pipes depends on design parameters such as dimensions of the heat pipe, material, wick structure and the working fluid. An experimental strategy was designed to study the effect of these parameters on the thermal performance of cylindrical heat pipes. The experimental design was conceived by employing the Taguchi method. The final aim of the experiments is to come up with design parameters that will yield optimum thermal performance. This paper presents an efficient design of experiment and the associated experimental setup and procedures to be carried out in order to optimize the design of cylindrical heat pipes.