TITLE:
Experimental Investigation on the Effection of Flow Regulator in a Multiple Evaporators/Condensers Loop Heat Pipe with Plastic Porous Structure
AUTHORS:
Xinyu Chang, H. Nagano
KEYWORDS:
Flow Regulator, Loop Heat Pipe, Multiple Evaporators and Condensers, Two-Phase Heat Transfer
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.2 No.9,
September
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: Multiple loop heat pipes which have two
evaporators and two condensers in one loop are a kind of active heat transfer
device. Since they have two evaporators and two condensers, the operating mode
also becomes multiple. This work discusses the cases that multiple loop heat
pipes were operated with one condenser at high temperature and the other at low
temperature. To avoid the high temperature returning liquid and keep the
multiple loop heat pipes work properly, the flow regulator which was made of polyethylene
was designed, fabricated and applied in this test. The effect of flow regulator
was confirmed and analyzed. In the test that large temperature difference
existed between two sinks, it can be found according to the result that the
flow regulator worked effectively and prevented the high temperature vapor to
enter the inlet of common liquid line, which can keep the evaporators and
returning liquid to operate at low temperature. With the increment of heat
loads and the temperature difference between two sinks, the pressure difference
between two condensers became larger and larger. When the pressure difference
was larger than the flow regulator’s capillary force, the flow regulator could
not work properly because the high temperature vapor began to flow through the
flow regulator. According to the test data, the flow regulator can work properly
within the sinks’ temperature 0°C/60°C and the two evaporators’ heat load
30/30 W.