• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.121-129
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• 2000

The thermal performance of a flat evaporator for capillary pumped loop (CPL) applications was investigated. Two to four layers of coarse wire screen wicks were placed onto the heated surface to provide irregular passages for vapor flow. The evaporator and condenser were separated by a distance of 1.2 m and connected by individual liquid and vapor lines. The wall material was copper and the working fluid was ethanol. The experimental facility utilized a combination of capillary and gravitational forces for liquid return, and distribution over the evaporator surface. The tubing used for vapor and liquid lines was 9.35 mm or less in diameter and heat was removed from the condenser by convection of air. A heat flux of up to $4.9{\times}10^4$ $W/m^2$ was applied to a flat evaporator having dimensions of 100 mm by 200 mm, 20 mm thick. The thermal resistance of the system as well as the temperature characteristics of the system was investigated as the evaporator heat flux and the condenser cooling capacity varied. The performance of the evaporator and effect of condenser cooling capacity were analyzed and discussed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.30.2-30.2
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• 2005

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2005

In this study, the air-side heat transfer coefficients of several types of evaporators in the household freezer/refrigerators are investigated. The types considered in this work are: discrete flat plate fin-and-tube type(in-lined tube array), continuous flat plate fin-and-tube type(staggered tube array), and spine fin-and-tube type(in-lined tube array). The heat transfer correlations obtained from this study for each heat exchangers could expect heat transfer coefficients less than $5\%$ of errors. The result indicates that the air-side heat transfer performance of spine fin-and-tube type evaporator shows the highest value under dry conditions, but discrete flat plate fin-and-tube type evaporator shows the highest value among these three evaporators under frosting conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 2006

The air and water flow distribution are experimentally studied for a round header - flat tube geometry simulating a parallel flow heat exchanger. The number of branch flat tube is thirty. The effects of tube outlet direction, tube protrusion depth as well as mass flux, and quality are investigated. The flow at the header inlet is identified as annular. For the downward flow configuration, the water flow distribution is significantly affected by the tube protrusion depth. For flush-mounted configuration, most of the water flows through frontal part of the header. As the protrusion depth increases, more water is forced to the rear part of the header. The effect of mass flux or quality is qualitatively the same as that of the protrusion depth. Increase of the mass flux or quality forces the water to rear part of the header. For the upward flow configuration, however, most of the water flows through rear part of the header. The protrusion depth, mass flux, or quality does not significantly alter the flow pattern. Possible explanations are provided based on the flow visualization results. Negligible difference on the water flow distribution was observed between the parallel and the reverse flow configuration.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.1079-1085
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• 2010

A steady-state analytical model was presented for a loop heat pipe (LHP) with an evaporator that has a flat geometry. On the basis of a series of reviews of the relevant literature, a sequence of calculations was proposed to predict the temperatures and pressures at each important part of the LHP: the evaporator, liquid reservoir (compensation chamber), liquid line, vapor line, and condenser. The analysis of the evaporator, which is the only part in the LHP that has a capillary structure, was emphasized. Thin-film theory is applied to account for the pressure and temperature in the region adjacent to the liquid-vapor interface in the evaporator. The present study introduced a unique method to estimate the liquid temperature at the interface. Relative freedom was assumed in the configuration of a condenser with a simplified liquid-vapor interface. Our steady-state model was validated by experimental results available in the literature. The relative error was within 3% on the absolute temperature scale, and reasonable agreement was obtained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to provide numerical and experimental data that can be used to investigate the performance characteristics of a flat plate fin-tube evaporator in household and commercial refrigerators under frosting conditions. Computer simulations with variations of operating conditions such as air inlet temperature, relative humidity, and geometries were performed to find out optimal design parameters of a fin-tube evaporator for household and commercial refrigerators. The tube-by-tube method was used in the simulation and the frost growth model was considered under frosting conditions. The developed analytical model predicted the decreasing rates of heat transfer capacity and air flow rate ratio within ${\pm}$10% compared to the experimental results for a refrigerator under real operating conditions. As a result, the frost thickness at $3^{\circ}C$ & 80% is increased 40% than that of $-3^{\circ}C$ & 80%, and the frost thickness at $3^{\circ}C$ & 90% is increased 30% than that of $3^{\circ}C$ & 60%. Accordingly, the operating time of the evaporator in the refrigerator was reduced with the increase of the decreasing rate of air flow rate ratio at each condition.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 1993.05a
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• pp.70-78
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• 1993

Heat pipes, applied to flat plate solar collectors, have a long and slender configuration with relatively low heat flux on the evaporator. Such a heat pipe has a tendency to build-up a liquid pool at the lower half of evaporator zone, and at this pool occurs such complicated phenomena of evaporation and fluid dynamics as superheat, sudden generation of bubble, its likely explosive growth process and flooding etc. In the present study, we tried to solve those problems by means of adjusting the two principle design parameters, liquid fill charge and wick length, using 4 heat pipes and 3 thermosyphons, with different values of parameter respectively. The corresponding results can be summarized as followings, - The thermal conductance of heat pipes was largely improved by el eliminating wick from adiabatic and condenser zone. - But on evaporator zone wick is inevitable to reduce behavior of the build -up of liquid pool , where arise diverse internal complex phenomena. - The liquid fill charge should have to be increased by 10∼20％ more than the quantity to saturate the wick.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.184-195
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• 2005

This paper describes the recent work on advanced technology concepts applied to air cooled heat exchangers for residential air-conditioning. The concepts include vortex generators for the air-side, micro-fin or flat tubes for the refrigerant-side. Advances in understanding of heat transfer mechanisms, predictive models are discussed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.1406-1411
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• 2004

A series of experiments was conducted to examine characteristics of a grooved flat-strip heat pipe having multiple heat sources. The inner grooves of the heat pipe have the aspect ratio of 1 to $2.5(0.42{\times}1.05$ mm) whose pitch was 0.6 mm. Four block heaters ($10{\times}20$ mm) were placed in the evaporator section at intervals of 20 mm and six different heating modes were tested. The maximum surface heat flux of 80 $W/cm^2$ was achieved while the operating temperature was kept below $100^{\circ}C$, In the nearest heating mode (from the condenser location), the heat pipe exhibited more stable temperature distribution than the far heating mode where the heaters is located furthest from the condenser.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.127-127
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• 2004