Fluid flow analysis in a closed loop pulsating heat pipe-simulation study

Abstract

Thermal Management is needed very much in modern day electronics as there is complexity in the systems leading to rapid thermal management requirement. Cooling technology is the main solution for reducing heat dissipation rates. Pulsating heat pipe which consists of an heated section evaporator, cooling section condenser and an adiabatic section is one of the promising two phase heat transfer devices in the present day scenario. In the present paper a simulation study model has been modelled to analyze the distribution of fluid flow in the pipe and also the temperature variation from evaporator to condenser. A multi turn Closed loop Pulsating pipe operating with different working fluids at different fill ratios has been selected. The design consists of copper capillary tube of 2 mm and 3 mm inner and outer diameters respectively and a length of 264 mm. The liquid slugs and vapor bubbles will be observed along with the temperatures in the evaporator and condenser sections of CLPHP working with base fluids viz… water, methanol and ethanol at volume fill ratios of 50%, 60% and 75%. with a constant heat Input of 60 W. The performance parameter thermal resistance has been calculated from the difference of average temperatures for a given heat input. The temperature, thermal resistance and fill ratio graphs are drawn for comparative study of CLPHP working at different conditions for working fluids considered.