Integration of a Thin-Film Evaporation Submodel With a Micro Loop Heat Pipe Solver

Abstract

A number of analytical and numerical models have been developed by various researchers to predict the behavior of loop heat pipes (LHP). However, none of those models use the thin-film evaporation principles in the capillary structures to evaluate the local evaporative heat transfer coefficients. In this work, principles of the thin film evaporation are applied in a submodel and combined with our previously developed loop solver model to more accurately simulate the performance of a flat micro loop heat pipe. The resulting code predicts the heat removal capability, surface temperature, and local and average heat transfer coefficients at various applied heat loads. The results indicate that extremely high cross-sectionally averaged evaporative heat transfer coefficients can be achieved. The modeling results are verified by experimental data.