Experimental investigation of the thermal performance of heat pipes with double-ended heating and middle-cooling

This study proposes a novel cooling approach called double-ended heating and middle-cooling (DHMC), which is suitable for overcoming the problems encountered in the cooling of multiple heat source systems with horizontal orientation as well as of those with inclined orientation. Two heat sources were placed at the two ends of an ordinary heat pipe, and a heat sink was installed at the middle section of the pipe. An experimental apparatus was used to study the thermal performance of the heat pipe with DHMC. The effects of various heat inputs, cooling locations, and negative inclination angles on the thermal performance of the heat pipe were analysed, and the experimental results were compared with those obtained by a traditional cooling approach. The experimental results demonstrate that the heat transport capability of a heat pipe can be significantly enhanced using this method in both horizontal and inclined orientations. The external wall temperature of the heat pipe can be controlled by installing the cooling block closer to the upper evaporator when employing this novel approach for large inclination angles (8 degrees < theta <= 16 degrees). The results indicate that this novel cooling method is highly suitable for cooling multiple heat source systems in both horizontal and inclined orientations because of its stable operation at high heat flux and its space efficiency. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.