EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF SS304 SCREEN MESH WICK HEAT PIPE

In this paper, the experimental performance of a SS304 heat pipe under natural and forced convection modes using two different wick mesh sizes is reported. De ionised water was used as a working fluid with different heat inputs. The wick material is made up of SS303 with two mesh sizes (such as, 100 and 200 mesh). The heat pipe was positioned at three orientations (such as, horizontal, inclined, and vertical). During experiments, the ambient temperature was maintained at 30 +/- 2 degrees C. The results showed that the heat pipe at an inclined position of 45 degrees has about 71% higher heat transfer coefficient with minimum thermal resistance when compared to the horizontal and vertical positions. Moreover, the results confirmed that, the heat pipe using wick with 200 mesh specification at inclined position is an optimal configuration when compared to other configurations.