Experimental study of a novel loop heat pipe with a vapor-driven jet injector

Abstract

Loop heat pipe (LHP) is an efficient and passive heat transfer device. However, heat leakage may lead to several problems such as temperature oscillation and even startup failure, which hinders the practical application. To weaken the negative effects of heat leakage and improve the performance of LHP, a novel loop heat pipe with a vapor-driven jet injector (LHPI) is proposed. The injector, which is driven by the vapor from the evaporator, can suck the hot liquid and form a directional motion of liquid in the compensation chamber to remove the heat leakage. The results indicate that the LHPI can operate with heat load range of 50–550 W and heat leakage higher than 20% using deionized water as working fluid. The maximum heat flux of LHPI is 48.6 W/cm2, corresponding to a total thermal resistance of 0.27 °C/W. While maintaining the heating wall temperature within 85 °C, the maximum heat flux reaches 22.1 W/cm2, corresponding to a thermal resistance of 0.33 °C/W. The heat transfer performance of LHPI is greatly improved compared with most of the conventional LHPs.