Experimental Study of a Pump-Driven Microchannel-Separated Heat Pipe System

Abstract

The current situation of high energy consumption in data centers places high demands on the energy consumption and heat-dissipation efficiency of cooling technology. This article studies the steady-state flow and heat-transfer characteristics of a pump-driven separated heat pipe system from an experimental perspective. After designing and selecting the pump-driven microchannel-separated heat pipe system, an experimental platform is built to test the pump-driven microchannel-separated heat pipe system under variable operating conditions. It is found that the optimal filling rate range of the system is 75% to 95%, and the optimal condensing air volume is 4250 m3/h. The relationship between the circulating mass flow rate and the heat-transfer capacity of the heat pipe system is comprehensively influenced by the resistance of each section and the heat-transfer coefficient at the heat exchanger. When the indoor and outdoor temperature difference increases from 10 °C to 30 °C, the heat transfer increases by 261.5%, and the working medium of R410a has a better heat-transfer performance than R134A at outdoor temperatures ranging from 0 to 15 °C. The results contribute to the application of pump-assisted microchannel heat pipe systems in data center machines, which provide guidance for the application of cabinet-level thermal management.