Characteristic Studies on Loop Heat Pipe with Micro Ceramic Wick

This paper presents the experimental and simulation study of a loop heat pipe (LHP) that can be applied to present electronics, space missions and thermal control systems. The present experimental study was carried out employing sintered alumina ceramic wick (d=2.96 mu m, phi = 0.61). High purity R-134a, R-22 and water were also used as alternative working fluids in addition to ammonia. The experimental study showed that the maximum heat transfer performance for the test LHP in the vertical top heating mode was over 100 Watts when ammonia was used as the working fluid. The simulation results have been compared with the experimental results to validate a simulation model based on the thermal resistance network that was developed to evaluate the performance of LHPs, focusing on their prospective applications in electronics. The simulation model is based on the loop overall energy, mass, and momentum balance. The simulation program can predict the effects of various parameters which affect the performance of LHP within 5% compared with the experimental results.