Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Heat pipes are the effective heat transfer devices capable of transmitting high heat fluxes rejected by modern day equipment. In the present study, an experimental investigation has been carried out to evaluate the enhancement in the thermal performance of mesh and sintered wick heat pipes charged with Al₂O₃/DI (Deionized water) nanofluid. Geometrical specifications of 12.7, 600 and 1 mm are selected as the outer diameter, length and wick thickness respectively and are kept constant for both sintered and mesh wick heat pipes. This work discusses about the effect of heat pipe inclination, type of working fluid and heat input on the thermal resistance and thermal efficiency. The results showed that the maximum reduction in thermal resistance is obtained for mesh wick heat pipe at 45° tilt angle and 60° for sintered wick heat pipe with Al₂O₃/DI water nanofluid concentration at 1.0 wt. % for both the cases. Further an enhancement in the thermal efficiency of 37.55% and 41.38% for mesh wick and sintered wick heat pipes respectively is observed for the same concentration. Experimental results show that the inclination angle has a strong effect on the thermal performance of heat pipes using both water and the nanofluid.

Keywords: Inclination Angle, Mesh Wick Heat Pipe, Nanofluid, Sintered Wick Heat Pipe