An analytic study on laminar film condensation along the interior surface of a cave-shaped cavity of a flat plate heat pipe

Abstract

An analytic approach has been employed to study condensate film thickness distribution inside cave-shaped cavity of a flat plate heat pipe. The results indicate that the condensate film thickness largely depends on mass flow rate and local velocity of condensate. The increasing rate of condensate film for circular region reveals about 50% higher value than that of vertical region. The physical properties of working fluid affect significantly the condensate film thickness, such as the condensate film thickness for the case of FC-40 are 5 times larger than that of water. In comparison with condensation on a vertical wall, the average heat transfer coefficient in the cave-shaped cavity presented 10-15% lower values due to the fact that the average film thickness formed inside the cave-shaped cavity was larger than that of the vertical wall with an equivalent flow length. A correlation formula which is based on the condensate film analysis for the cave-shaped cavity to predict average heat transfer coefficient is presented. Also, the critical minimum fill charge ratio of working fluid based on condensate film analysis has been predicted, and the minimum fill charge ratios for FC-40 and water are about ??? = 3~7%, ???/=0.5-1.3%, respectively, in the range of heat flux ?"=5~90kW/㎡