Analyzing the Heat Transfer Property of Heat Pipe Influenced by Integrated Cooling Apparatus

Abstract

Heat pipe with discrete heat transfer property is often called thermal superconductor because it has extremely large thermal conductivity. This special heat transfer property is destroyed by integrating cooling apparatus and further reducing the cooling power of a heat pipe cooler. This paper experimentally studied the heat transfer property of heat pipe influenced by integrated cooling apparatus. To simplify the investigating process, a home-made square heat pipe with the dimensions of  mm3 was built with two pieces of copper plates and two pieces of glass plates face to face, respectively. The two pieces of copper plates were constructed with inside walls of capillary structure and the two pieces of glasses were with antifog inside walls for observing the inner phenomenon. Moreover, isothermal circulating cooling water was applied outside the heat pipe instead of cooling fin. The results show that heat vapor in the heat pipe is condensed earlier and cannot reach the remote section of condenser. In other words, the heat transfer property of heat pipe is destroyed by integrating cooling water. This phenomenon causes the unfavorable cooling power of the heat pipe cooler.