Abstract
The paper presents an overview of heat pipes, especially those used in different space missions. Historical perspectives, principles of operations, types of heat pipes are discussed. Several factors have contributed to the science and technology of the present state-of-Art heat pipe leading to the development of loop heat pipes, micro and miniature heat pipes and micro loop heat pipes. The paper highlights the advancement of heat pipe for hypersonic cruise vehicles, loop heat pipes with higher conductance in 10 K range, heat pipe switches for temperature control of the spacecraft electronics.
Highlights
A typical heat pipe consists of a sealed pipe or tube made of a material that is compatible with the working fluid such as Copper for water heat pipes, or Aluminium for ammonia heat pipes
Variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) is a capillary driven heat pipe in which, a non-condensable gas (NCG) is added to the heat pipe, in addition to the working fluid When the variable conductance heat pipes (VCHP) is operating, the NCG is swept toward the condenser end of the heat pipe by the flow of the working fluid vapor condensing at the condenser
A two phase heat transfer device designed to cool machinery by removing heat through a rotating shaft was reported [34], which was termed as a rotating heat pipe (RHP)
Summary
A typical heat pipe consists of a sealed pipe or tube made of a material that is compatible with the working fluid such as Copper for water heat pipes, or Aluminium for ammonia heat pipes. Thermal diodes were proposed for use of cooling low-temperature sensors, such as an infrared detector in low sub-solar earth orbits [16] This type of heat pipe was intended mainly due to its characteristics of being able to cool the instrument during normal operation, but effectively insulating it when exposed to an external heat flux. The Constrained Vapor Bubble experiment [22] represents State-of-the-Art heat pipe research undertaken by NASA to cool International Space Station (ISS) It is the prototype for a wickless heat pipe and is the first fullscale fluids experiment as sketched, flown on the US module of the ISS. It uses a cuvette pipe, which is a rectangular-shaped glass tube made of quartz, filled with a fluid called pentane This design allows for temperature measurements along the Constrained Vapor Bubble with great accuracy. Several millions of heat pipes of various configurations are being manufactured every month for cooling of laptop computers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call