Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Characterization of a Heat Pipe

Abstract

Satellites perform better and last longer when their components remain within certain temperature limits. Hence satellites must employ certain thermal control hardware to produce the required temperatures. Heat pipe is one of the highly e cient passive devices, which can quickly transfer heat from one point to other. The main advantage of heat pipe is its e cient heat transfer with minimum weight and without any power consumption. Mathematical modelling and thermal analysis is the best way to predict the vari- ous parameters and performance of the heat pipe. Because of uncertainties in the uniformity of the wick structure and heat losses, it is necessary to perform experi- ments to determine the suitability of a particular heat pipe for a given application. In general, it is necessary to validate the model by performing several experiments on the actual hardware. A sintered copper powder heat pipe and a screen wire mesh heat pipe have been theoretically modelled for calculating values of maximum heat transfer at di erent operating temperatures of heat pipe. An experimental set-up to perform various ex- periments on the heat pipe is realized. A heat pipe is characterized for its performance in terms of its heat transport capacity (HTC) and e ective thermal resistance. Ex- periments are carried out on sintered copper powder heat pipe to validate the model by comparing the theoretical and experimental values of maximum heat transfer limit and also to check the transient response of the heat pipe. Limitations regarding the present tests undertaken are discussed.