Abstract
The performance of alkali heat pipe greatly depends on the properties of the wick material. In the present work, an experimental investigation is conducted to study the performance of high temperature sodium heat pipe with annular and composite wick structures. The operating limits of the heat pipe for these wick structures are evaluated and the effective working region of the heat pipe is identified. The experiments are conducted for annular and composite wick, different heat inputs, fill ratio and orientation. The results showed that the composite wick heat pipe is performing better in terms of its lower thermal resistance. The sodium heat pipe showed better heat transfer characteristics at a fill ratio of 40% and at an orientation of 30°.
Highlights
Heat pipes are the passive cooling devices used for both low and high temperature applications
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present studies on sodium heat pipe: 1. In annular wick heat pipe and composite wick heat pipe at 350W
The composite wick sodium heat pipe is found to be better than the annular wick heat pipes in terms of its lower thermal resistance and higher heat transfer co-efficient
Summary
Heat pipes are the passive cooling devices used for both low and high temperature applications. Liquid-metal heat pipes are considered for thermal energy transport in many high temperature, high power density space and terrestrial power systems. Alkali metals are commonly used as the working fluid with refractory metals. This is partly because of the low solubility and dissolution rate of the metal. High temperature heat pipes are being used in energy conversion applications such as fuel cells, gas turbine re-combustors and Stirling cycle heat sources. With the technology development in space nuclear power, additional applications include nuclear reactor heat removal elements and radiator elements. Sodium being one of the important alkali metals, it can be used as the working fluid in a nuclear heat pipe
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