Thermal Characters of Mesh Structure in a Flat Heat Pipe

In this study plate type heat pipes having mesh capillaries were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A test apparatus was designed to test thermal performance of plate type copper-water heat pipe having one or two layers of #50 or #80 mesh capillary structures with 5-to-50 W heat input. The working fluid, water is charged with 25% or 33% volume of the heat pipe internal space. In addition to horizontal orientation, the heat pipes were tested with the evaporator section elevated up to 40 degree inclination angle. Temperature distribution of the heat pipe was measured, and the evaporator, adiabatic and condensation resistances of the heat pipe were calculated separated. The effects of mesh size, charge volume, and inclination angle on each thermal resistance were discussed. In general, the #80 mesh yields lower thermal resistances than the #50 mesh; inclination angle has more significant effect on condenser than evaporator. Theoretical models of evaporation and condensation in flat heat pipes were proposed to interpolate the experimental results. The present evaporation model predicts the experimental data of evaporation resistance between −20% and +30%, and the condensation model predicts most condensation resistance data within ±30%.