• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.267-274
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• 2004

Theoretical analysis for predicting the heat transport limitations of screen mesh wick and sintered wick heat pipes was performed. The heat pipe diameter was 8mm and water was used for working fluid. For the 250 mesh, each capillary pressures and heat transport limitations, thermal resistances were analyzed according to the operating temperatures, wick thicknesses and inclination angles, based on the effective capillary radius (r$\_$c/), porosity ($\varepsilon$) and permeability (K). The wick capillary limitation was increased as the operating temperature and the wick thickness were increased, and generally the sintered wick showed higher heat transport limitations than that of the screen wick. The thermal resistance of the screen wick was higher than that of the sintered wick and both thermal resistances were linearly increased as the wick thickness was increased.