An Experimental Study on the Temperature-Control Performance of a Variable Conductance Heat Pipe

가변열전도성능 히트파이프(VCHP)의 온도제어 성능에 관한 실험

A VCHP was fabricated and tested for its thermal performance. The container was made of copper, and the working fluid was water. STS-316 screen of mesh number 100 was inserted as a capillary structure. As a baseline performance, a normal heat pipe of the same dimensions was tested in advance to compare with VCHP, where an inert gas container was attached. The outer diameter of the heat pipe was 12.8 mm and the total length was 600 mm. The evaporator and the condenser lengths were both 200 mm. The thermal load ranged from 20 to 300W. Typical result revealed that the operating temperature of the VCHP stayed almost constant, while that of the normal heat pipe varied as much as 40$^{\circ}C$. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the VCHP is very effective for temperature control of heat-dissipating devices.