Loop Heat Pipe Design, Manufacturing, and Testing: An Industrial Perspective

Abstract

Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs) are two-phase devices that can passively transport heat over long distances relative to other passive two phase systems such as heat pipes. Most of the art of LHP fabrication is in the primary and secondary wick. The manufacturing steps for an LHP are described, including the tests to validate the LHP during manufacture. The tests include wick property testing (pore size, permeability, and thermal conductivity), secondary wick testing, and parallel flow balance design and testing. The required tests after the LHP is fabricated include low power starts, shutdown through compensation chamber heating, unbalanced condenser temperature tests, transient testing — both power cycling and condenser temperature changes, and maximum power tests.