An experimental investigation on heat transfer performance of pulsating heat pipe

摘要

Heat input and inclination angle are essential factors influencing heat transfer performance of a pulsating heat pipe (PHP). The heat transfer performance at different inclination angles is studied in this paper. The temperature distribution of a PHP at different inclination angles is obtained by using a thermocouple combined with an infrared thermal imager. The experimental results show that heat is distributed symmetrically under gravity assisted operation, and the average minimum thermal resistance is 0.17 K/W when the angle is 45 degrees. When gravity inhibits circulation of the working fluid, temperature is distributed uniformly, and the thermal resistance increases up to a maximum value of 0.33 K/W. Meanwhile, during the gravity assist and suppression operation mode, the inclination angle only impacts the oscillating mode of the temperature. Particularly, when the angle is 90 degrees, the PHP has the best mode of oscillation, with its heat resistance at 0.077 K/W.