Loop Heat Pipes: Design, Investigation, Prospects of Use in Aerospace Technics

Loop heat pipes (LHP) are a special kind of two-phase heat-transfer devices with a capillary pumping of a working liquid. Owing to its construction, special fine-pored wick structures and the method of operation these devices can ensure an efficient heat transfer at any orientation in a gravity field. In the most severe evaporator-above-condenser regime the heat-transfer distance may be several metres.

These qualities create good prospects for using LHPs in the thermal control systems of various apparatus, which in the process of tests or operation change their orientation in space or undergo inertial overloads.