Influence of the Effective Thermal Thansport Length on the Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Liquid-Metal Heat Pipe for High-temperature Solar Thermal Devices

유효열이송거리가 고온 태양열기기용 액체금속 히트파이프의 열전달 특성에 미치는 영향

Cylindrical stainless-steel/sodium heat pipe for a high-temperature solar thermal application was manufactured and tested for transient and steady-state operations. Two layers of stainless-steel screen mesh wick was inserted as a capillary structure. The outer diameter of the heat pipe was 12.7 mm and the total length was 250 mm. The effective heat transport length, the thermal load, and the operating temperature were varied as thermal transport conditions of the heat pipe. The thermal load was supplied by an electric furnace up to 1kW and the cooling was performed by forced convection of air The effective thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance were investigated as a function of heat flux, heat transport length, and vapor temperature. Typical range of the total effective thermal conductivity was as low as 43,500 W/m K for heat flux of 176.4 kW/$m^2$ and of operating temperature of 1000 K.