Abstract
Existing pulsating heat pipes (PHPs) have a closed loop on a two-dimensional (2D) plane, leading to a structural limit in heat transfer performance. This study solves the limitations of these existing PHPs by substituting a specific three-dimensional (3D) structure PHP. The numerical model (having a 2D structure PHP) was validated with the experiment, which shows the maximum error of 8.5 % in the results. Results show that additional flow occurred due to the 3D structure of the PHP, which enables improved heat transfer. Under uniform heating conditions, the thermal resistance and the temperature of the evaporator decreased by up to 14.7 % and 6.7 ·C, respectively. Finally, the heat transfer performance was compared for the entire 3D structure PHP under uniform and non-uniform heating conditions. The non-uniform heating conditions of the PHP increased the thermal resistance and temperature of the evaporator under low heating rates while decreased them under high heating rates.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Change history
05 October 2023
An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0946-z
Abbreviations
- ρ :
-
Density
- ρ v :
-
Vapor density
- \({\rho _l}\) :
-
Liquid density
- \(\overrightarrow {{V_v}}\) :
-
Vapor velocity
- \(\overrightarrow {{V_l}}\) :
-
Liquid velocity
- α v :
-
Vapor volume fraction
- ρ l :
-
Liquid volume fraction
- m vl :
-
Mass transfer from vapor to liquid
- m lv :
-
Mass transfer from liquid to vapor
- β e :
-
Evaporation time relaxation coefficient
- β c :
-
Condensation time relaxation coefficient
- T sat :
-
Saturation temperature
- T v :
-
Vapor phase temperature
- T l :
-
Liquid phase temperature
- μ :
-
Viscosity
- μ v :
-
Vapor viscosity
- μ l :
-
Liquid viscosity
- E :
-
Internal energy
- \({\vec F}\) :
-
Body force
- \({\vec g}\) :
-
Gravitational acceleration
- k eff :
-
Effective thermal conductivity
- S h :
-
Energy source term
- ρ :
-
Pressure
- R :
-
Gas constant
- R th :
-
Thermal resistance
- T e :
-
Evaporator temperature
- T c :
-
Condenser temperature
- Q input :
-
Heat flow rate
References
D. T. Vo, H. T. Kim, J. H. Ko and K. H. Bang, An experiment and three-dimensional numerical simulation of pulsating heat pipes, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 150 (2020) 119317.
H. Akachi, Structure of a Heat Pipe, US Patent, US4921041A (1990).
Y. J. Youn and S. J. Kim, Fabrication and evaluation of a slicon-based micro pulsating heat spreader, Sens. Actuator A-Phys., 174 (2012) 189–197.
D. S. Jang, J. S. Lee, J. H. Ahn, D. Kim and Y. Kim, Flow patterns and heat transfer characteristics of flat plate pulsating heat pipes with various asymmetric and aspect ratios of the channels, Appl. Therm. Eng., 114 (2017) 211–220.
V. M. Patel, Gaurav and H. B. Mehta, Influence of working fluids on startup mechanism and thermal performance of a closed loop pulsating heat pipe, Appl. Therm. Eng., 110 (2017) 1568–1577.
P. Charoensawan, S. Khandekar, M. Groll and P. Terdtoon, Closed loop pulsating heat pipes part A: parametric experimental investigations, Appl. Therm. Eng., 23 (2003) 2009–2020.
H. Han, X. Cui, Y. Zhu and S. Sun, A comparative study of the behavior of working fluids and their properties on the performance of pulsating heat pipes (PHP), Int. J. Therm. Sci., 82 (2014) 138–147.
V. K. Karthikeyan, K. Ramachandran, B. C. Pillai and A. B. Solomon, Effect of nanofluids on thermal performance of closed loop pulsating heat pipe, Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci., 54 (2014) 171–178.
M. Zufar, P. Gunnasegaran, H. M. Kumar and K. C. Ng, Numerical and experimental investigations of hybrid nanofluids on pulsating heat pipe performance, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 146 (2020) 118887.
D. S. Jang, E. Lee, S. H. Lee and Y. Kim, Thermal performance of flat plate pulsating heat pipes with mini- and microchannels, Int. J. Air-Cond. Refrig., 22 (4) (2014) 1–7.
K. Chien, Y. Lin, Y. Chen, K. Yang and C. Wang, A novel design of pulsating heat pipe with fewer turns applicable to all orientations, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 55 (2012) 5722–5728.
D. S. Jang, H. J. Chung, Y. Jeon and Y. Kim, Thermal performance characteristics of a pulsating heat pipe at various non-uniform heating conditions, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 126 (B) (2018) 855–863.
Z. Kang, D. Shou and J. Fan, Numerical study of a novel Single-loop pulsating heat pipe with separating walls within the flow channel, Appl. Therm. Eng., 196 (2021) 117246.
J. Wang, Y. Pan and X. Liu, Investigation on start-up and thermal performance of the single-loop pulsating heat pipe with variable diameter, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 180 (2021) 121811.
J. Wang, J. Xie and X. Liu, Investigation on the performance of closed-loop pulsating heat pipe with surfactant, Appl. Therm. Eng., 160 (2019) 113998.
J. Wang, J. Xie and X. Liu, Investigation of wettability on performance of pulsating heat pipe, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 150 (2020) 119354.
Y. Han, Y. Kwon, W. S. Kim and Y. H. Na, Experimental study on oscillating heat pipe with three-dimensional structure, Trans. Korean Soc. Mech. Eng. B, 42 (12) (2018) 769–775.
L. Chu, Y. Ji, Z. Liu, C. Yu, Z. Wu, Z. Wang, Y. Yang and X. Yang, Structure optimization of a three-dimensional coil oscillating heat pipe, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 183 (C) (2022) 122229.
J. Qu, J. Zhao and Z. Rao, Experimental investigation on the thermal performance of three-dimensional oscillating heat pipe, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 109 (2017) 589–600.
Ansys Inc., ANSYFLUENT Theory Guide, Release 15, Ansys Inc. (2013).
W. H. Lee and R. W. Lyczkowski, The basic character of five two-phase flow model equation sets, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids., 33 (2000) 1075–1098.
N. Saha, P. K. Das and P. K. Sharma, Influence of process variables on the hydrodynamics and performance of a single loop pulsating heat pipe, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 74 (2014) 238–250.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) [NRF-2021R1I1A3047845, NRF-2022R1A4A3023960].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Jongmin Jung is a M.S. student of Department of Refrigeration Engineering at Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan, Korea. He received his B.S degree in refrigeration engineering from Chonnam National University in Korea in 2021.
Yongseok Jeon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan, Korea. He received B.S. and the Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Korea University, Seoul, Korea. His research interests include thermal engineering, heat transfer, and energy system.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jung, J., Jeon, Y. Numerical study on the heat transfer characteristics of three-dimensional pulsating heat pipe. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 4869–4876 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0839-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0839-1