Numerical Study on Single Turn Pulsating Heat Pipe with Additional Branch Configuration

Abstract

The simple wickless structure and strong heat transfer potential of pulsating heat pipes (PHP) have prompted widespread interest in transferring heat from electronic devices. This work proposes a novel single-turn PHP with convergent and divergent shaped additional branches (ABs) (C-PHP and D-PHP) in the evaporator section, which could increase latent heat transfer in the evaporator by minimizing the saturation temperature and improving the unidirectional flow and thermal performance of PHP. Numerical simulations were performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to understand the thermo-hydrodynamics and properties of the proposed novel PHPs. This study provides the outcomes of novel PHPs and a comparison with the performance of traditional PHP (T-PHP) without AB and straight AB PHP (S-PHP). The results demonstrated that the startup time of novel C-PHP and D-PHP were improved by 32.6% and 22.4%, respectively, compared to the T-PHP, “stopovers” and “local flow reversals” are minimized by the use of AB. The average flow velocity of novel C-PHP and D-PHP was improved by 16% when compared to T-PHP and 11.4% compared to S-PHP, the directional component in C-PHP is substantially stronger than S-PHP and D-PHP.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Satyanarayana Kommuri

Satyanarayana Kommuri is a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Institute of Technology Nagaland, India. His main research is concerned with numerical simulations, computational heat transfer and fluid flows in heat pipes. Other scientific interests are related to waste heat recovery, battery cooling and phase change materials.

Nakka Manikanta Reddy

Nakka Manikanta Reddy is a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Institute of Technology Nagaland, India. His area of interest is numerical heat transfer and fluid flows in enhanced geometries and Heat pipes with low global warming potential refrigerants.

Kamal Kumar Basumatary

Kamal Kumar Basumatary is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Health and Nutritional Science at Atlantic Technological University Sligo, Ireland. He received his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. His Ph.D. thesis was on the coupled modeling and analysis of gas foil bearing integrated with active magnetic bearing. His expertise is in numerical modeling and analysis of electro-mechanical systems.

Srinivasan Venugopal

Srinivasan Venugopal is currently working as a Director, National Institute of Technology Nagaland, India. He has retired from the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, Kalpakkam, India on superannuation after serving 36 years. He obtained his M.S. (by research) in Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai and Ph.D., and D.Sc., in Metallurgy from the University of Madras, during his career at IGCAR. He has pursued Post-Doctoral Research Studies in the Materials Directorate, Wright Laboratory, United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA under the coveted Resident Research Associateship Award of the National Research Council of the United States of America. He has authored about 150 publications in scientific journals, and 1 US patent at his credit.