• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.52-58
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• 2019

Thermal performance and flow patterns inside the closed loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) were experimentally investigated. For investigating the effect of working fluids, CLPHP was filled with various working fluids including methanol, acetone and ethanol. The thermal resistance was calculated by temperatures in evaporator and condenser and flow patterns were visualized by a digital camera. The thermal resistances for all fluids were decreased as the heat increases. Flow patterns change from static slug to elongated slug flows, bulk circulation and annular flows as the heat increases. Dry-out occurs after annular flows. For reasonable comparison of thermal performances, normalized CHF, Kutateladze number (K_u), was compared. Even though ethanol has smallest CHF, K_u of ethanol is similar with that of methanol. In addition, acetone has the highest K_u that means CLPHP with acetone provides the higher thermal performance compared with CLPHP with other fluids.