Thermal and fluid characterization of screen grooved wicked heat pipe using water as working fluid

Abstract

Heat pipe is a heat transfer mechanism used for transmitting heat from one end to another end in many applications. It consists of three divisions of evaporator, adiabatic, condenser sections with length of evaporator and condenser being same. There are different structures of wick in a heat pipe. Grooved-screen wicked heat pipe can transfer heat using the evaporation–condensation process opposing gravity. The aim of this study is to perform numerical analysis of grooved-screen wicked heat pipe made up of copper with water as working liquid. The grooved screen wicked heat pipe for given dimensions is modelled in 3D CAD software SolidWorks (2020). ANSYS FLUENT was used to look into the thermal efficiency of the heat pipe varies with heat inputs like 108 W, 145 W, 176 W and 201 W. The SIMPLEC method is chosen for solving the Navier stokes equations. The influence of heat pipe processing parameters are as follows: coolant, mass flow rate, heat input for grooved screen wicked heat pipe in the temperature, volume fraction and pressure are shown as contours.