Modeling and Experimental Tests of a Loop Heat Pipe for Aerospace Applications

Abstract

A compact loop heat pipe is designed for the cooling of high dissipative electronic components used in aeronautics. An original modeling approach is developed using a one-dimensional discretization of the whole loop heat pipe including the evaporator–reservoir, which takes into account the longitudinal conductive heat transfer within the wall, the convective heat transfer between the loop heat pipe wall and the ambient air and distribution of the fluid fill charge within the loop heat pipe. Thermal tests of the cylindrical loop heat pipe using methanol as the working fluid are carried out for a heat load ranges from 10 to 100 W. A good agreement is achieved between the experimental and the simulation results. The simulations show the temperature field of the entire loop heat pipe and the location of the maximum temperature gradients. The effect of the reservoir fluid fill charge is also highlighted.