Heat Transport Capability of Axial Grooved Wick Heat Pipes with Asymmetrical Heating

Nowadays, it becomes more important to predict the heat transport capability of axial grooved wick heat pipes with asymmetrical heating accurately. The authors succeeded in calculation by applying transient analysis. It was found that the heat transport limit is the point where all the grooves began to have dry out region.

The prediction of the heat pipe agreed well with the test data with asymmetrical heating under micro-gravity as well as under normal gravity. In addition, it also showed there is no marked difference between symmetrical heating and asymmetrical heating to extent of tested heat pipe design.