TRANSIENT PERFORMANCE OF HEAT PIPES USING NANOFLUIDS

In the present works, a comprehensive transient numerical model was developed to evaluate the effect of nanofluid on the transient performance of heat pipes. The numerical model solves for compressible vapor flow, the liquid flow in the wick region, and the energy equations in the vapor, wick and wall. The distinctive feature of the model is that it can uniquely determine the heat pipe operating pressure based on the physical and operating conditions of the system. Three nanoparticle types were considered: Al2O3, CuO, and TiO2. The effects of the concentration of nanoparticles (5%, 10%, 20% and 40%) were investigated on the heat pipe response time, thermal resistance, and pressure drop under various operating conditions. The results showed that the use of nanofluid decreased the response time of the heat pipe by the maximum of 27%. It was also discovered that the thermal resistance decreased significantly with an increase in the volume concentration. A maximum reduction of 84%, 82% and 78% in thermal resistance was obtained for Al2O3, CuO, and TiO2, respectively. In addition, the effect of nanoparticles on the liquid pressure drop highly depends on the nanoparticle type and volume concentration.