Heat Transfer Behavior of a Rectangular Thermosyphon Loop

The thermal performance of a rectangular thermosyphon loop was studied. The analysis, using a one-dimensional approximation, the conventional friction factor, and an empirical correlation for the overall heat transfer in the cooler, was shown to be able to predict accurately the loop performance at steady state or approaching steady state, if the effective length was used to replace the geometric length in the calculation of loop friction. The steady-state natural circulation flow solution obtained was shown to be a function of a dimensionless group PY or (NuGr/Pr) Y and agrees very well with the experimental results.