Abstract
For application to medium temperature solar collerctors $(80\sim120^{\circ}C)$, a heat pipe should be designed properly to efficiently transfer heat to a hotter condenser than common applications. Among many wick structure candidates for heat pipes of this type, a slab wick was selected based on promising performance data reported previously. The thermal performance of slab wick heat pipes, screen wick heat pipes and thermosyphons with enlarged condenser section were experimentally investigated for comparison purpose. The heat pipes were 8.0 mm O.D. (evaporator section) and 25.4 mm O.D. (condenser section) made of copper. The experimental data of the heat pipes were analysed in terms of thermal resistance against thermal load and coolant temperature.