Pulse Mitigation and Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques. Volume 4. TransientBehavior of Heat Pipe With Thermal Energy Storage Under Pulse Heat Loads

摘要

A novel design of a high-temperature axially grooved heat pipe (HP) whichincorporates with thermal energy storage (TES) to mitigate pulse heat loads was presented. Phase-change material (PCM) encapsulated in cylindrical containers was used for thermal energy storage. The transient responses of the HP/TES system under two types of pulse heat loads were studied numerically. The first type is pulse heat loads applied at the heat pipe evaporator; the second type is reversed-pulse heat loads applied at the condenser. The transient response of three different HP/TES configurations were compared: (1) a heat pipe with a large empty cylinder installed in the vapor core, (2) a heat pipe with a large PCM cylinder, and (3) a heat pipe with six small PCM cylinders. It was found that the PCM is very effective in mitigating the adverse effect of pulse heat loads. The six small PCM cylinders are more efficient than the large PCM cylinder in relaxing the heat pipe temperature increase under pulse heat loads.