Analytical and Experimental Investigations on Axially Grooved Aluminum-Ethane Heat Pipe

Abstract

Heat pipes are promising devices to meet the needs of thermal management in spacecraft. In the present work, a dual core axially grooved aluminum-ethane heat pipe was developed and tested for its heat transport characteristics over the temperature range 150–240 K. An analytical model has also been developed to yield maximum heat transport, taking into account the effect of liquid-vapor interfacial shear stress, liquid meniscus variation, and the amount of working fluid in the heat pipe. The model results were compared with experimental results and are found to be in reasonably good agreement.