Heat Management With Phase Change of Self-Rewetting Fluids

Abstract

The present paper mainly describes the latest progress in the thermal management devices with using “self-rewetting fluids” as a working fluid. The self-rewetting fluids are those dilute aqueous solutions of high carbon alcohols, which show a particular surface tension behavior—an increase in the surface tension with increasing temperature. In the case of phase change of these particular solutions, the Marangoni effects caused by both temperature gradient and concentration gradient along vapor/liquid interface are expected to induce a strong liquid inflow to local hot or dry spot at heater wall. Such a behavior is more pronounced in reduced gravity conditions and micro-scale heat transfer. The paper contains a series of reduced gravity and terrestrial experimental results on thermal management devices with self-rewetting fluids, wickless heat pipes and wicked heat pipes in reduced gravity and terrestrial conditions, respectively. In addition, preliminary experimental data for pool boiling characteristics of self-rewetting fluids are given.