Numerical analysis of closed loop pulsating heat pipe with varying condenser temperatures

Sriram Chidambaranathan

Article ID: 9883
Vol 8, Issue 1, 2025

VIEWS - 1118 (Abstract)

Abstract


A numerical investigation utilizing water as the working fluid was conducted on a 2D closed loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) using the CFD software AnsysFluent19.0. This computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigation explores three instances where there is a consistent input of heat flux in the evaporator region, but the temperatures in the condenser region differ across the cases. In each case, the condenser temperatures are set at 10 ℃, 20 ℃, and 30 ℃ respectively. The transient simulation is conducted with uniform time steps of 10 s. Generally, the heat rejection medium operated at a lower temperature performs better than at a higher temperature. In this CFD study the thermal resistances gets decreased with the decreasing value of condenser temperatures and the deviation of 35.31% of thermal resistance gets decreased with the condenser region operated at the temperature of 10 ℃.


Keywords


closed loop pulsating heat pipe; boiling and condensation; slug and plug flow; thermal resistance; Nusselt number

Full Text:

PDF


References

  1. Akachi H. Structure of Heat Pipe. U.S. Patent Application No. 5,219,020. 1990.
  2. Wu HL, Peng, XF, Ye P, Eric Gong, Y, Simulation of Refrigerant Flow Boiling in Serpentine Tubes. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2007; 50(5–6): 1186–1195. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2006.10.013
  3. Kumar V, Rudresha S. CFD Analysis and Experimental Investigation on Thermal Performance of Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe Using Different Nanofluids. International Journal of Advanced Research. 2014; 2(8): 753–760.
  4. Sedighi E, Amarloo A, Shafii B. Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Flat-Plate Pulsating Heat Pipes with Extra Branches in the Evaporator Section. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2018; 126: 431–441. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.05.047
  5. Pachghare PR, Mahalle AM. Thermo-Hydrodynamics of Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe: An Experimental Study. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology. 2014; 28(8): 3387–3394. doi: 10.1007/s12206-014-0751-9
  6. Barrak AS, Saleh AAM, Naji ZH. Experimental and Numerical Simulation for Thermal Investigation of Oscillating Heat Pipe Using VOF Model. Engineering and Technology Journal. 2020; 38: 88–104.
  7. Karthikeyan VK, Khandekar S, Pillai BC, et al. Infrared Thermography of a Pulsating Heat Pipe: Flow Regimes and Multiple Steady States. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2014; 62(2): 470–480. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.09.041
  8. Vo DT, Kim HT, Ko J, et al. An Experiment and Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Pulsating Heat Pipes. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2020; 150: 119317. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.119317
  9. Błasiak P, Opalski M, Parmar P, et al. The Thermal—flow Processes and Flow Pattern in a Pulsating Heat Pipe—numerical Modelling and Experimental Validation. Energies. 2021; 14(18). doi: 10.3390/en14185952
  10. Hansen N, Versteeg J, Michna GJ. Effect of Condenser Temperature on Pulsating Heat Pipe Performance. In: Proceedings of the ASME 2013 Heat Transfer Summer Conf; 14–19 July 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA. pp. 1–6.
  11. Jiaqiang E, Zhu R, Zuo H, et al. Simulation and Analysis on Heat Transfer Performance of Oscillating Heat Pipe with Single and Double Passageway. Advanced Materials Research. 2012; 516–517: 433–37. doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.516-517.433
  12. Wang J, Bai X. The Features of CLPHP with Partial Horizontal Structure. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2018; 133: 682–89. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2018.01.058
  13. Li Q, Wang Y, Lian C, et al. Effect of Micro Encapsulated Phase Change Material on the Anti-Dry-out Ability of Pulsating Heat Pipes. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2019; 159: 113–854. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng
  14. Kalpak RS, Naik HB, Mehta HB. CFD Analysis of Cryogenic Pulsating Heat Pipe with Near Critical Diameter under Varying Gravity Conditions. Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering. 2020; 54(1): 64–76. doi: 10.1134/S0040579520010212
  15. Xie F, Li X, Qian P, et al. Effects of Geometry and Multisource Heat Input on Flow and Heat Transfer in Single Closed-Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2019; 168: 114856. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.114856
  16. Lin Z, Wang S, Shirakashi R, et al. Simulation of a Miniature Oscillating Heat Pipe in Bottom Heating Mode Using CFD with Unsteady Modeling. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2013; 57(2): 642–656. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2012.09.007,
  17. Noh HY, Kim SJ. Numerical Simulation of Pulsating Heat Pipes: Parametric Investigation and Thermal Optimization. Energy Conversion and Management. 2020; 203: 112237. doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2019.112237
  18. Zufar M, Gunnasegaran P, Ching Ng K. Numerical Study on the Effects of using Nanofluids in Pulsating Heat Pipe. International Journal of Engineering & Technology. 2018; 7(4): 6.
  19. Choi J, Zhang Y. Numerical Simulation of Oscillatory Flow and Heat Transfer in Pulsating Heat Pipes with Multi-Turns Using OpenFOAM. Numerical Heat Transfer; PartA: Applications. 2020; 77(8): 761–781. doi: 10.1080/10407782.2020.1717202
  20. Wang J, Ma H, Zhu Q. Effects of the Evaporator and Condenser Length on the Performance of Pulsating Heat Pipes. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2015; 91: 1018–1025. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.08.106
  21. Al Jubori AM, Jawad QA. Computational Evaluation of Thermal Behavior of a Wickless Heat Pipe under Various Conditions. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering. 2020; 22: 100767. doi: 10.1016/j.csite.2020.100767
  22. Wang J, Xie J, Liu X. Investigation on the Performance of Closed-Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe with Surfactant. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2019; 160: 113998. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.113998
  23. Chidambaranathan S, Rangaswamy SM. Experimental Investigation of Higher Alcohols as Self-Rewetting Fluids in Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipes. Thermal Science. 2021; 25: 781–790. doi: 10.2298/TSCI200509347C
  24. Sedighi E, Amarloo A, Shafii B. Numerical and experimental investigation of flat-plate pulsating heat pipes with extra branches in the evaporator section. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2018; 126: 431–441. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.05.047
  25. Costa Bitencourt, Umberto. (2016). CFD simulation of a Pulsating Heat Pipe using ANSYS FLUENT. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305608515 (accessed on 15 November 2024).


DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/tse9883

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Sriram Chidambaranathan

License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.