Passivation and Performance of Inorganic Aqueous Solutions in a Grooved Aluminum Flat Heat Pipe

Abstract

Aluminum heat pipes have traditionally been incompatible with water and water-based fluids because they quickly react to generate noncondensable hydrogen gas (NCG). Two different inorganic aqueous solutions (IAS) are tested in a flat heat pipe (FHP). Grooved aluminum plates were used as the heat pipe wick and the tests were run with the heating section raised above the condenser. Compatibility between the working fluid and the aluminum heat pipe was established by running the device to dryout and observing thermal resistance results along the way. De-ionized (DI) water was also tested, as a baseline for comparison, to establish that it did indeed fail as expected. Operating performance of each mixture was obtained from zero heat input until dryout was reached for two angles of inclination. The data suggest that both IAS mixtures are compatible with aluminum heat pipes and exhibit performance similar to that of a copper and water heat pipe. It is demonstrated that IAS and aluminum heat pipes show potential for replacing existing copper and water devices for some applications and provide alternative options for heat pipe designers who value both the thermophysical property advantages of water and reduced weight of aluminum devices.