Loop Heat Pipe Technology for Aircraft Anti-Icing Applications

Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs) are very efficient two-phase capillary heat transfer devices. Because of their characteristics, these devices are used commonly for thermal control applications in several fields including space and aircraft industries. In particular, for aircraft anti-icing applications, some attempts have been made to prevent ice formation on the engine inlet by using LHPs. However, because of the high temperatures involved, it is not advisable to charge the LHP with classical working fluids such as ammonia. In this paper, a trade-off between alternative working fluids is presented and a numerical analysis has been carried out to study the performances of these working fluids. Finally, the preferred solutions are proposed.