• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1139-1144
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• 2005

This study has been performed to investigate the thermal performance of variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) with meshed wick. The length of condenser portion in a VCHP is varied by the expansion of inert gas with the operation temperature, and the heat transport capacity is thus varied with the operating temperature. In this study, numerical evaluation of the VCHP is made for the thermal performance of VCHP, based on the diffusion model of inert gas. Water is used as a working fluid and nitrogen as a control inert gas in the copper tube. As a result, the thermal performance of VCHP has been compared with that of constant conductance heat pipe (CCHP) according to the variation of operation temperature. Maximum heat transport capacity of VCHP is mainly presented for operation temperature and the variation of operation temperature is also presented for heat transfer rate of VCHP.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.125-130
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• 2006

This study has been performed to investigate the thermal performance of variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) with screen meshed wick. The active length of condenser section in a VCHP is varied by non-condensible gas, which controls the operating temperature, and the heat capacity of VCHP is controlled by the operating temperature. In this study, numerical analysis of the VCHP based on the diffusion model of non-condensible gas is done for the thermal control performance of VCHP. Water is used as a working fluid and nitrogen as a control non-condensible gas in the copper tube. As a result, the thermal conductance of VCHP has been compared with that of constant conductance heat pipe (CCHP) corresponding to the variation of operating temperature.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2124-2129
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• 2007

A VCHP was fabricated and tested for its thermal performance. The container was made of copper, and the working fluid was water. STS-316 screen of mesh number 100 was inserted as a capillary structure. As a baseline performance, a normal heat pipe of the same dimensions was tested in advance to compare with VCHP, where an inert gas container was attached. The outer diameter of the heat pipe was 12.8 mm and the total length was 600 mm. The evaporator and the condenser lengths were both 200 mm. The thermal load ranged from 20 to 300W. Typical result revealed that the operating temperature of the VCHP stayed almost constant, while that of the normal heat pipe varied as much as 40$^{\circ}C$. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the VCHP is very effective for temperature control of heat-dissipating devices.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.689-695
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• 2008

Experimental study has been performed to investigate the influence of non-condensible gas(NCG) charged mass on the thermal performance of a variable conductance heat pipe(VCHP) with screen mesh wick. The VCHP is furnished by screen mesh number 200 for the pipe outer diameter of 12.7mm and the pipe length of 500 mm. The VCHP is filled with water as working fluid of 4.8g and nitrogen as NCG and has evaporator, condenser and adiabatic section, respectively. For the results from experiment, it is found that, for the same charged mass of working fluid, the overall wall temperatures of heat pipe grows up with increasing NCG charged mass. The variation of operating temperature of VCHP reduces with increasing NCG mass. In addition, the profile of axial wall temperature distribution is presented for heat transport capacity of heat pipe, the temperature of cooling water of condenser, inclination angle, and operating temperature.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.19-24
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• 2003

This paper is to research the heat transfer characteristic in copper-water variable conductance heat pipes(VCHP) with a non-condensable gas and gas reservoir. The heat transfer characteristics in the VCHP have not yet been studied much researches. VCHP are used in many applications. These applications range from thermal control of components and systems on satellites, to precise temperature calibration duties, conventional electronics temperature control and thermal diodes. The practical use of VCHP is a simple way to control the temperature of satellites. As the quantity of NCG was increased, there was an increase in the saturation vapor temperatures. As the input heat has loaded from 90 W to 110 W, the difference of the evaporator surface is lower than $10^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2004

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2001

The operation characteristics of variable conductance heat pipe(VCHP) were numerically investigated by using 1-dimensional diffuse-front model. For different boundary conditions, the amount of non-condensible gas charge and dimension of gas reservoir were obtained by iterative calculation. It is found that the amount of non-condensible gas charge and dimensions of gas reservoir have an effect on the temperature control of condenser for the given operating condition of VCHP. The numerical results show that VCHP has an excellent capability of temperature control when subjected to a change in the heat input.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.157-157
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.59-59
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.339-345
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• 2006

This these was conducted to investigate tile characteristics of a frozen start up for a VCHP which has water as a working fluid and Nitrogen as a non-condensible gas. The tested heat pipe was made of a copper tube with the outer diameter of 12.7 mm, the length of 340 mm, and the sintered metal wick had the thickness of 0.7 mm. This experiment was conflicted under the thermal load, inclined angle and cooling conditions.