Investigations on Heat Transfer through a Heat Pipe

Abstract

In present work, heat pipe has been developed & tested considering it's application in waste heat recovery. Ample amount heat is wasted in industrial processes at different temperature is included in the literature. For recovery of these waste heat, presently shell & tube and in & tubes heat exchangers are in use. To increase the heat recovery efficiently for low temperature gradient, heat pipe can be a alternative solution. In present study heat pipe was developed and tested at 120C evaporator temperature.

Parametric study was carried out by using different wall material, length of the pipe, wick material, wick layer and orientation of pipe to evaluate heat flux, system efficiency, thermal resistance and overall heat transfer coefficient. Based on property analysis water, methanol, ethanol and pantene can be used as working fluid. Comparing liquid thermal conductivity, latent heat, specific heat, working temperature range, toxicity and cost the water is most suitable as a working fluid.

The research is based on the fundamental principle of heat pipe technology, which includes the design and experimental results on the vapor, liquid 2-phase flow and heat transfer, heat transfer limits, heat transfer enhancement with heat pipes and the material compatibility. This research concludes the high efficient heat pipe (heat & mass transfer equipment) by theoretical selection and experimental procedure. As far as dimension is concern, no correlations are available in any of the literature to decide dimensions and particular area for waste heat recovery system.