HEAT PIPES

A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that combines the principles

of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently
manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces.
TYPES
Vapor Chambers
Variable Conductance Heat Pipes
Pressure Controlled Heat Pipes
Diode Heat Pipes
Thermosyphons
Loop heat pipes
Loop heat pipe (LHP)
A loop heat pipe is a passive two-phase transfer device
that can carry higher power over longer distances by
having co-current liquid and vapor flow.
Loop heat pipe
COMPONENTS

Evaporator
Primary and secondary wick
Liquid line
Condenser
Vapor line
Bayonet tube
LHP Operating Principles
Pressure Balance
The total pressure drop in the loop is the sum of viscous pressure drops in
LHP components, plus any pressure drop due to body forces:
P total = P groove + P vap + P cond + P liq + P wick +
P g
To compensate that loss the capillary pressure rise across the wick
meniscus:
P cap , max = 2 cos /Rp
Rp= radius of the largest pore in the wick
The following relation must be satisfied at all times for proper LHP
operation:
P cap >= P total
LHP Operating Principles Pressure Balance
Thermodynamic Constraints in
LHP Operation
There is a thermodynamic constraint between
evaporator, condenser and reservoir, i.e. the
pressure drop and the temperature drop between any
two elements are thermodynamically linked

The derivative dP/dT can be related to physical properties

of the working fluid by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation:
Thermodynamic Constraints in
LHP Operation
APPLICATIONS
The first space application occurred aboard a Russian
spacecraft in 1989. LHPs are now commonly used in space
aboard satellites including:
Obzor spacecraft
Boeings (Hughes) HS 702 communication satellites
Chinese FY-1C meteorological satellite
NASAs ICESat
LHPs were first flight demonstrated on the NASA space shuttle
in 1997 with STS-83 and STS-94
Loop heat pipes are important parts of systems for cooling
electronic components
 APPLICATIONS
Chinese FY-1C meteorological satellite

Obzor spacecraft
APPLICATIONS
NASAs ICESat

Boeings (Hughes) HS 702 communication satellites

APPLICATIONS
Electronic equipment
ADVATAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
REFERENCE
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/
20150018090.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe