The effects of transferred heat and wall material on thermal behavior of a nano-grooved micro-heat pipe, molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The design and construction of suitable superconductors for dissipating the heat produced by microprocessors and concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) is one of the bottlenecks in their design. Accordingly, any progress in these industries depends onthethermal management of produced heat in such devices. Among all available options, heat pipes (HPs) are desirable options due to their independence and proper performance. In this article, the performance of a flat plate micro-HP with embedded nano groovesasthecondensate returning mechanism is investigated. A part of an HP with a length of 1 μm, and 100 nm and 200 nm in two other dimensions is selected and simulated using molecular dynamics (MD). Platinum (Pt), copper (Cu), and aluminum (Al) are used for body and argon (Ar), ethanol (Eth), and water (H2O) are also used asworking fluids. The effects of using each of these materials on efficiency, effectiveness, density, temperature,velocity, heat flux,and several parameters related to mass transferinside the HP are investigated. The results show that among the three fluids used, the highest efficiency is related to Eth (23.7 %). Evaluation of the effectiveness of the HP indicates that under all examined conditions, using HP as a superconductor is justified. Among the three metals used, Cu shows the best heat flux and provides better results for evaporation and condensation rates. The highest heat flux is obtained by using Cu-Eth and is 1828 W/cm2.