Heat Transport Characteristics of the Capillary Pumped Loop for Cooling the Tower-Type Computer

In this study the capillary pumped loop was manufactured as a cooling device for the tower-type personal computer and the heat transport characteristics of this cooling device was investigated. The experimental equipment consisted of the evaporator, the condenser, the liquid tube, the vapor tube and the reservoir. The length and the diameter of the evaporator were 150mm and 27mm respectively and had capillary wick in it with equivalent diameter of 5μm. In the experiment, the heat flux to the evaporator and the cooling water temperature were changed. And the effects of enclosed quantity of the working fluid (R134a) in the reservoir and the evaporator height above the condenser on heat transport rate were also investigated. Experimental results shown that this capillary pumped loop was able to transport heat rate of 15 to 95W (heat flux of 995 to 6051 W/m²) with highest temperature of 343K and that the temperature difference in the loop was 16.7 to 43.9 K in the case of 2500mm in its heat transport length and cooling temperature of 293K. And it was derived that the working fluid enclosed rate affected the maximum heat transport rate. The computer code was also developed to evaluate the effect of the refrigerant enclosed rate and the wick thickness on the heat transport rate considering the pressure drop to the circumference direction in the wick.