Pulse Mitigation and Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques. Volume 5. TransientLiquid Movement in Heat Pipe Wicks

摘要

A new transient model for the liquid flow is presented. The continuousdistribution of the saturation in the wick is modeled, where previous models had assumed a uniformly saturated structure. Solution of the liquid flow model requires that the saturation dependence of the capillary flow properties be known. These properties must be determined experimentally because of the complex geometry of the porous wick structures. An experimental study of the flow properties was performed for the case of multilayer mesh wicks. X-ray radiography was used to determine saturation distributions in the wicks for a variety of conditions. Capillary pressure and relative permeability were determined from independent experiments. Results of the transient liquid flow model compare favorably with the results from the heat pipe experiments....Transient heat pipe performance, Flow in porous wicks, Liquid saturation, Capillary pressure, Permeability.