Analysis of Thermal Control Performance of Variable Conductance Heat Pipe with Axial Grooves

축방향 그루브형 가변전열 히트파이프의 열제어 특성

The present study has been conducted to analytically investigate the thermal control performance of variable conductance heat pipe(YCHP) with axial grooves. The condenser port of the YCHP is occupied by a inert gas in which the concentration of gas is varied with the operation temperature and the heat transport capacity is thus varied with the operating temperature due to the variation of inert gas concentration. In this study, numerical evaluation for the thermal control of the YCHP with axial grooves is made from the 1st order diffusion model that considers the diffusive expansion of inert gas by concentration gradient. Ammonia is used as a working fluid and Nitrogen as a control gas in the Aluminum tube. As a result, the thermal performance of YCHP based on diffusion model has been compared with that of YCHP from flat front model. Additionally, it is found that the concentration of inert gas is distributed in the condenser region of YCHP with axial grooves.