Experimental Investigation on the Effects of Inclination Angle on Heat Transfer Performance of a Liquid Metal High-Temperature Oscillating Heat Pipe

Abstract

Abstract The liquid metal high-temperature oscillating heat pipe (LMHOHP) is a kind of high efficiency heat transfer device, which can function in high-temperature environments above 500°C. In this paper, the effects of inclination angle on the startup and heat transfer performance of a LMHOHP were investigated experimentally. The sodium-potassium alloy (potassium 78%) was used as the working fluid of the LMHOHP and the filling ratio was 50%. The start-up characteristics and heat transfer performance of the LMHOHP at four inclination angles of 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° were tested when the operating temperatures were 150°C and 400°C, respectively. Experimental results show that (1) The LMHOHP can start-up and function at all the tested inclination angles, the maximum temperatures of the evaporator and condenser can exceed 1000°C and 700°C, respectively. (2) The thermal resistance of the LMHOHP decreases with inclination angle increases, the thermal resistance at the inclination angle of 90° decreases by up to 32.9%, 41.6% and 55.9% compared with that at the inclination angle of 60°, 30° and 0°, respectively. (3) When the input power exceeds 3000W, the flow patterns of LMHOHP at the inclination angle of 90°, 60° and 30° can be changed from the oscillating motion to the unidirectional circulating flow. (4) Compared with the operating temperature of 150°C, the heat transfer performance of the LMHOHP improves at the operating temperature of 400°C, at the input power of 3457W and the inclination angle of 90°, the minimum thermal resistance of LMHOHP is 0.075°C/W. The results shown that the LMHOHP has a good adaptability to working conditions which further extends the application range of oscillating heat pipe.