Utilization of Advanced Working Fluids in Heat Pipes

A novel fluid for use as a working fluid in a heat pipe has been tested at UCLA. The fluid was discovered originally in use with a device consisting of a metal tube charged with the patented inorganic aqueous solution (IAS) which is evaporated when the tube is evacuated before use. According to the patent, this evaporation leaves a thin film which allows the tube to carry high heat flux loads with low temperature drop across the tube in a solid state mode. However, various experiments with these tubes have produced inconsistent results and there is some question as to whether the fluid is completely evaporated. The research on which this work is based, is focused on testing whether the charging fluid will operate as the working fluid in a heat pipe, in order to determine the nature of the IAS fluid. We charged a heat pipe apparatus with a biporous wick in order to investigate if the fluid plays a role in heat transfer. We have extensive data for this experiment using water as the working fluid which will use to compare the two sets of results. Testing has shown positive results in the reduction of the superheat required to drive heat fluxes through a wick compared to water. Some experiments have shown that the operating (temperature) range of the IAS is much larger than a standard heat pipe. It is theorized that the increase in performance of the IAS is due to an increased heat of vaporization. If this fluid is proven to be effective, it would lead to more effective and tunable heat transfer devices.