Steady 3D Numerical Simulation of the Evaporator and Compensation Chamber of a Loop Heat Pipe

Abstract

The paper presents results of a steady three-dimensional numerical simulation of a flat evaporator and compensation chamber (CC) of a loop heat pipe (LHP) and describes a procedure of the thermal state calculation of the evaporator and the compensation chamber. The LHP is an efficient heat transfer device operating on the principle of evaporation-condensation cycle. It is successfully used in space technology and also to cool the heat-stressed components of electronic devices and computer equipment. The authors carried out a numerical study of the influence of the condensate pipeline length, immersed in water, on the thermal state of the evaporator and the compensation chamber. The paper shows the influence of the mass forces field on the calculation results. Presents all the numerical studies carried out by the authors for a brass flat evaporator with a thermal load of 80 W. Water is used as a LHP heat-transfer fluid. Fields of temperature, pressure and velocity are presented for each design option. Based on the calculation results, the authors came to the following conclusions: Influence of the mass forces field for the LHP of this type is significant and leads to arising water vortex flow in the condensate pipeline and CC, thereby mixing and equalizing the water temperature in the CC and in the porous element, reducing the maximum temperature of the porous element; The increasing section length of the condensate pipeline in the CC leads to increasing velocity of the heat-transfer fluid in the CC and in the porous element, decreasing mixing zone of the condensate in the CC, and increasing temperature non-uniformity of the porous element.