Essay On Heat Pipe

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The heat pipe is a device that utilizes the evaporation heat transfer in the evaporator and condensation heat transfer in the condenser, in which the vapor flow from the evaporator to the condenser is caused by the vapor pressure difference and the liquid flow from the condenser to the evaporator is produced by the capillary force, gravitational force, electrostatic force, or other forces directly acting on it. From a thermodynamics point of view, the thermal energy added to the evaporator in a functional heat pipe produces the mechanical work to pump the working fluid. No external power is needed for a typical heat pipe. The phase-change heat transfer occurs almost in the quasi-equilibrium state. The heat pipe has a very high efficiency to transfer the thermal energy from a higher-temperature heat source to a lower-temperature heat source. The heat pipe can be operated from a temperature…show more content…
Heat pipe is a device of very high effective thermal conductivity which varies with the length of heat pipe. The effective thermal conductivity of heat pipe can approach 100 kW/(m-K) for long heat pipes, in comparison with approximately 0.4kW/(m-K) for copper rod. A small quantity of the water is placed in the sealed tube. The lower end of the tube is heated. The liquid vaporizes and the vapour moves to the cold end of heat pipe where it is condensed. The condensate is returned along the length of wall to the hot end by means of gravity. The heat pipe is constructed with a wick on inside of the pipe and the capillary forces return the condensate to evaporator. Hence, the heat pipe can be used in any orientation. Heat pipe will give a better performance if evaporator is in lowest position because gravitational forces will assist the capillary

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