User:Samkhan.iitk/Pulsating heat pipe

What is a Pulsating Heat Pipe?

Construction Details:

A PHP consists of a plain meandering tube of capillary dimensions with many U-turns. In contrast to a conventional heat pipe, there is no additional capillary structure inside the tube. There are two ways to arrange the tube: open loop and closed loop. As the names suggest, in a closed loop structure, the tube is joined end-to-end. The tube is first evacuated and then filled partially with a working fluid, which distributes itself naturally in the form of liquid-vapor plugs and slugs inside the capillary tube. One end of this tube bundle receives heat, transferring it to the other end by a pulsating action of the liquid-vapor/bubble-slug system. There may exist an optional adiabatic zone in between. Also, one or more flow-direction control check valves may be introduced at suitable locations to augment the performance. .

Present Reseacrh Status:

Pulsating Heat Pipes, apparently simple and very promising heat transfer devices, are very intriguing for theoretical and experimental investigations alike. They are attractive heat transfer elements, which due to their simple design, cost effectiveness, and excellent thermal performance may find wide applications. Since their invention in the early nineties, they have so far found market niches in electronics equipment cooling. Their complex operational behavior, which is not yet fully understood, has raised an ever growing academic interest. Until now, it has not been possible to mathematically simulate the thermo-fluidic mechanism of PHP and its thermal performance performance. There exists no complete engineering design tools, as yet.

References:

[1] http://electronics-cooling.com/articles/2003/2003_may_a4.php

[2] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1359-4311(02)00237-5

[3] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1290-0729(03)00100-5