Heat Pipe for Aerospace Applications—An Overview

The paper presents an overview of heat pipes, especially those used in different space missions. Historical perspectives, principles of operations, types of heat pipes are discussed. Several factors have contributed to the science and technology of the present state-of-Art heat pipe leading to the development of loop heat pipes, micro and miniature heat pipes and micro loop heat pipes. The paper highlights the advancement of heat pipe for hypersonic cruise vehicles, loop heat pipes with higher conductance in 10 K range, heat pipe switches for temperature control of the spacecraft electronics.