A study of liquid flow in a flat plate heat pipe under localized heating

Abstract

An analytical approach is presented to study the liquid flow performances inside the wick structure of a flat plate heat pipe under different types of heat source conditions. Starting from a point heat source on the heat pipe, different types of heat sources such as line, strip and discrete heaters are simulated using the Green's function approach together with the respective source distribution functions. The corresponding liquid pressure and velocity distributions are illustrated and discussed. The work is then extended to simulate multiple discrete heat source condition on the heat pipe. This analytical model is validated with the available results in the literature and good agreement is obtained. The work presented is advantageous in the thermal management as this could help to determine the optimum heat source positions on the heat pipe, which will allow efficient cooling of the electronic components or system.