A novel design of pulsating heat pipe with fewer turns applicable to all orientations

Abstract

This study presents a novel pulsating heat pipe (PHP) concept that is functional even when PHP is with fewer turns and is operated horizontally. Two heat pipes were made of copper capillary tubes with an overall size of 122 mm x 57 mm x 5.5 mm is investigated, one had 16 parallel square channels having a uniform cross-section of 2 mm x 2 mm (uniform CLPHP), and the other had 16 alternative size of parallel square channels (non-uniform CLPHP; a cross-section 2 mm x 2 mm and a cross-section of 1 mm x 2 mm in alternating sequence). Test results showed that the performance of PHP rises with the inclination but the uniform channel CLPHP is not functional at horizontal configuration whereas the proposed non-uniform design is still functional even at horizontal arrangement. The thermal resistance for uniform PHP is relative insensitive to change of inclination when the inclination angle exceeds certain threshold value. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.