Heat Pipe

Heat pipe is device that transfers heat using the principles of both thermal conductivity & phase
transition so that heat can transfer effectively between two interfaces. Heat pipe is a self-
contained passive energy recovery device. A heat pipe can transfer up to 1000 times more
thermal energy, than copper, the best known conductor; that too with less than 57℃/mtr
temperature drop. One of the amazing features of the heat pipes is that they have no moving parts
and hence require minimum maintenance. They are completely silent and reversible in operation
and require no external energy other than the thermal energy they transfer. Heat pipes are
strongly built and can withstand a lot of abuse. Heat Pipes are used in many applications like
cooling of the CPU in a computer, space application, energy storage for some solar thermal
applications, air conditions etc.

A heat pipe consists of a sealed container, a wick structure, a small amount of working fluid that
is just sufficient to saturate the wick and it is in equilibrium with its own vapor. The operating
pressure inside the heat pipe is the vapor pressure of its working fluid. The length of the heat
pipe can be divided into three parts viz. evaporator section, adiabatic section and condenser
section. In a standard heat pipe, the inside of the container is lined with a wicking material.
Space for the vapor travel is provided inside the container.
The wick structure in a heat pipe facilitates liquid return to the evaporator from the condenser.
The main purposes of wick are to generate the capillary pressure, and to distribute the liquid
around the evaporator section of heat pipe. The commonly used wick structure is a wrapped
screen wick.

A typical heat pipe consists of a sealed hollow tube, which is made from a thermo conductive
metal such as copper or aluminum. The pipe contains a relatively small quantity of "working
fluid" (such as water, ethanol or mercury) with the remainder of the pipe being filled with vapor
phase of the working fluid. On the internal side of the tube's side-walls a wick structure exerts a
capillary force on the liquid phase of the working fluid. This is typically a sintered metal powder
(sintering is a method for making objects from powder, by heating the material until its particles
adhere to each other) or a series of grooves etched in the tube's inner surface. The basic idea of
the wick is to soak up the coolant.

There is liquid vapor equilibrium inside the heat pipe. When thermal energy is supplied to the
evaporator, this equilibrium breaks down as the working fluid evaporates. The generated vapor is
at a higher pressure and passes through the vapor space provided towards the condenser section.
Vapor condenses giving away its latent heat of vaporization to the heat sink. The capillary
pressure created in the menisci of the wick, pumps the condensed fluid back to the evaporator
section. The cycle repeats and the thermal energy is continuously transported from the
evaporator to condenser in the form of latent heat of vaporization.

Working fluid selection is based on

• Compatibility with wick and wall materials

• Good thermal stability • Wettability of wick and wall materials
• Vapor pressures not too high or low over the operating temperature range
• High latent heat
• High thermal conductivity
• Low liquid and vapor viscosities
• High surface tension

Operation Limits of a heat pipe

i. Viscous limit: At low temperatures the vapor pressure difference between the condenser and
the evaporator may not be enough to overcome viscous forces. The vapor from the evaporator
doesn’t move to the condenser and the thermodynamic cycle doesn’t occur.

ii. Sonic limit: Occurs when the vapor velocity reaches sonic speed at the evaporator and any
increase in pressure difference will not speed up the flow; like choked flow in converging-
diverging nozzle. Usually occurs during startup of heat pipe.

iii. Entrainment limit: At high vapor velocities, droplets of liquid in the wick are torn from the
wick and sent into the vapor. This results in dry out.
iv. Capillary limit: Occurs when the capillary pressure is too low to provide enough liquid to the
evaporator from the condenser. Leads to dry out in the evaporator. Dry out prevents the
thermodynamic cycle from continuing and the heat pipe no longer functions properly.

v. Boiling limit: Occurs when the radial heat flux into the heat pipe causes the liquid in the wick
to boil and evaporate causing dry out.

Effective thermal conductivity of a heat pipe,

keff = Q Leff /(A ΔT)

where: keff = Effective thermal conductivity [W/m.K]

Q = Power transported [W]

Leff = Effective length = (Levaporator + Lcondenser)/2 + Ladiabatic [m]

A = Cross-sectional area [m2 ]

ΔT = Temperature difference between evaporator and condenser sections [°C]