Conventional Heat Pipes

Abstract

A heat pipe is defined as a device that utilizes the evaporation heat transfer in its evaporator and the condensation heat transfer in its condenser, in which the vapor flow from the evaporator to condenser is caused by the vapor pressure difference, and the liquid flow from the condenser to the evaporator is produced by capillary force, gravitational force, and/or other forces directly acting on it.The conventional heat pipe basically is referred to as a heat pipe driven by capillary force as shown in Fig. 9.1. A typical conventional heat pipe consists of three sections: an evaporator or heat addition section, an adiabatic section, and a condenser or heat rejection section. When heat is added to the evaporator section of the heat pipe, the heat is transferred through the shell and reaches the liquid. When the liquid in the evaporator section receives enough thermal energy, the liquid vaporizes. The vapor carries the thermal energy through the adiabatic section to the condenser section, where the vapor is condensed into the liquid and releases the latent heat of vaporization. The condensate is pumped back from the condenser to the evaporator by the driving force acting on the liquid.