Abstract
After the thermal performance of a flat-plate heat pipe with sintered composite copper mesh-groove wick has been shown to be superior in our previous study, the capillary properties, namely the permeability (K) and effective pore radius (reff), are characterized in this work using the capillary rate-of-rise method. The composite mesh-groove wick consists of a layer of 200-mesh copper screen sintered over parallel semi-elliptic grooves with a width of 0.18 mm and a depth of 0.075 mm. While the measured reff for the composite mesh-groove wick agrees well with the prediction by a literature formula, the measured K is about a half of the theoretical prediction available in the literature, which does not account for mesh layer. A new formula of K calculation for the composite mesh-groove wick is proposed with the mesh layer accounted for. The new theoretical K agrees excellently with our measurement. Also investigated is a sintered two-layer 200-mesh (2 × 200 mesh) wick for comparison. Our measured K and reff of it also agree well with the experimental values in the literature. The experimental K/reff value for the composite mesh-groove wick is about 4 times as large as that of the 2 × 200 mesh wick. Then, visualization experiments for flat-plate heat pipes adopting either of these two wicks are conducted under different inclinations. The maximum heat loads (Qmaxs) measured for the composite mesh-groove wick are about 4 times as large as those for the 2 × 200 mesh wick, in agreement with the ratios of the K/reff values of these two wicks. In addition, the measured data of K and reff are used to calculate the Qmaxs of the heat pipes with either wick under various orientations. The theoretical Qmaxs compare well with the experimental measurements.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.