Experimental Studies on Thermal Performance of a Pulsating Heat Pipe with Methanol/DI Water

Bhawna Verma, Vijay Lakshmi Yadav, Kaushal Kumar Srivastava

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.

DOI: 10.4236/jectc.2013.31004                

Abstract

The effect of working fluid on the start-up and thermal performance in terms of thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient of a pulsating heat pipe have been studied in the present paper. Methanol and de-ionized water has been selected as the working fluid. The minimum startup power for DI water was obtained at 50% filling ratio and for methanol at 40%. The optimum filling ratio in terms of minimum startup power and minimum thermal resistance was 50% for DI water and 40% for methanol. The minimum thermal resistances for DI water and methanol were observed at vertical orientation. The evaporator side heat transfer coefficient for water was slightly more, while the condenser side heat transfer coefficient was appreciably more than that of methanol. Studies were also conducted for start-up time and temperature at different orientations and it was found that the PHP charged with methanol worked efficiently at all orientations.

Keywords

Pulsating Heat Pipe; Start-Up Power; Working Fluid; Thermal Resistance; Heat Transfer Coefficient

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	H. Akachi, “Structure of a Heat Pipe,” US Patent No 4921041, 1990.
[2]	M. Groll and S. Khandekar, “Pulsating Heat Pipe: Progress and Prospects,” Proceedings of International Conference on Energy and Environment, Shanghai, 2003.
[3]	Y. Zhang and A. Faghri, “Advances and Unsolved Issues in Pulsating Heat Pipes,” Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2008, pp. 20-44. doi:10.1080/01457630701677114
[4]	Y. Zhang and A. Faghri, “Heat Transfer in a Pulsating Heat Pipe with Open End,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 45, No. 4, 2002, pp. 755-764. doi:10.1016/S0017-9310(01)00203-4
[5]	M. B. Shafii, A. Fagiri and Y. Zhang, “Thermal Modeling of Unlooped and Looped Pulsating Heat Pipes,” ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 123, No. 6, 2001, pp. 1159-1172. doi:10.1115/1.1409266
[6]	T. Hudakorn, P. Terdtoon and P. Sakulchangsatjatai, “Effect of Inclination Angle on Performance Limit of a Closed-End Oscillating Heat Pipe,” American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2008, pp. 174-180. doi:10.3844/ajeassp.2008.174.180
[7]	S. Nishio, “Oscillatory-Flow Heat-Transport Device (Forced Oscillatory Flow Type and Bubble Driven Type),” Proceedings of the 11th International Heat Pipe Conference, Tokyo, Vol. 2, 1999, pp. 39-49.
[8]	M. Hosoda, S. Nishio and R. Shirakashi, “Meandering Closed Loop Heat Transport Tube (Propagation Phenomena of Vapor Plug),” Proceedings of the 5th ASME/JSME Joint Thermal Engineering Conference, San Diego, 1999, pp. 1-6.
[9]	B. Verma, V. L. Yadav and K. K. Srivastava, “Nanofluid—An Alternative Fluid in Pulsating Heat Pipe/Oscillating Heat Pipe,” IOSR Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2012, pp. 28-37. doi:10.9790/2834-0332837
[10]	S. Khandekar, N. Dollinger and M. Groll, “Understanding Operational Regimes of Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes: An Experimental Study,” Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 23, No. 6, 2003, pp. 707-719. doi:10.1016/S1359-4311(02)00237-5
[11]	S. Liu, J. Li, X. Dong and H. Chen, “Experimental Study of Flow Patterns and Improved Configurations for Pulsating Heat Pipes,” Journal of Thermal Science, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2007, pp. 56-62. doi:10.1007/s11630-007-0056-8
[12]	L. Lin, R. Ponnappan and J. Leland, “Heat Transfer Characteristics of an Oscillating Heat Pipe,” Proceedings of the 34th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, Denver, 2000, pp. 2000-2281.
[13]	L. Lin, R. Ponnappan and J. Leland, “Experimental Investigation of Oscillating Heat Pipes,” AIAA Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2001, pp. 395-400. doi:10.2514/2.6641
[14]	R. R. Riehl, “Characteristics of an Open Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe,” Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Environmental Systems, Colorado Springs, 2004.
[15]	B. Y. Tong, T. N. Wong and K. T. Ooi, “Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe,” Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 21, No. 18, 2001, pp. 1845-1862. doi:10.1016/S1359-4311(01)00063-1
[16]	J. L. Xu and X. M. Zhang, “Start-Up and Steady Thermal Oscillation of a Pulsating Heat Pipe,” Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 41, No. 8, 2005, pp. 685-694. doi:10.1007/s00231-004-0535-3
[17]	M. Vassilev, Y. Avenas, C. Schaeffer, J. L. Schanen and J. S. Harder, “Experimental Study of a Pulsating Heat Pipe with Combined Circular and Square Section Channels,” Proceedings of the 42nd IAS Annual Meeting Conference, New Orleans, 2007, pp. 1419-1425.
[18]	C. Hu and L. Jia, “Experimental Study on the Startup Performance of Flat Plate Pulsating Heat Pipe,” Journal of Thermal Sciences, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2011, pp.150-154. doi:10.1007/s11630-011-0450-0
[19]	X. Wang, T. Han, L. Wang, X. Mao and C. Yang, “Experimental Study on Startup Characteristics of Pulsating Heat Pipe,” Advanced Materials Research, Vol. 354, 2012, pp. 87-91. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.354-355.87
[20]	W. Qu and H. B. Ma, “Theoretical Analysis of Startup of a Pulsating Heat Pipe,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 50, No. 11-12, 2007, pp. 2309-2316. doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2006.10.043