Experimental Study of Thermal Performance of Heat Pipe with Axial Trapezoidal Grooves

Analysis and experiment are performed to investigate the thermal performance of a heat pipe with axial grooves. The heat pipe was designed in a 6.5 mm I.D., 17 axial trapezoidal grooves、 1000 mm long tube of aluminium, and ammonia as working fluid. A mathematical equations for heat pipe with axial grooves is formulated to obtain the capillary limitation on heat transport rate in a steady state. As a result, heat transport factor of heat pipe has the maximum at the operating temperature of 293K in 0m elevation. As the elevation of heat pipe increases、 the heat transport factor of the heat pipe is reduced markedly, comparing with that of horizontal elevation of the heat pipe. It may be considered that such behavior of heat pipe is caused by the working fluid swarmed back to the condenser port due to gravity force and supercooled by a coolant of heat exchanger. Analytical results of heat transport factor are in a good agreement with those of experiment.