THE EFFECT OF WICK PERMEABILITY AND POROUS RADIUS ON CAPILLARY AND ENTRAINMENT LIMIT IN A HEAT PIPE REACTOR

Abstract

For heat extraction in nuclear systems, interest in the design of nuclear reactors with heat pipes has increased. Determination of heat limitations is one of the the remarkable factors when heat pipes is used for nuclear systems. In this article, capillary and entrainment limit values for the heat pipe were calculated in a heat pipe reactor with potassium working fluid operating at 650 K. Five different effective porous radius (10.1x10-6, 10.225x10-6, 10.35x10-6, 10.425x10-6 and 10.6x10-6 m) and five different wick permeability (4.75x10-12, 5x10-12, 5.25x10-11, 5.5x10-12 and 5.75x10-12 m2) were considered for sintered copper wick heat pipe. While the effects of effective porosity radius, wick permeability, and wick radius on the capillary barrier were studied, only the effects of effective porosity radius were studied. The highest values of the capillary and entrainment limits were obtained when the porosity radius is 10.1x10-6 m. Besides, maximum capillary limits achieved when the wick permeability is 5.75x10-12 m2 and the wick radius.