• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 1996

The purpose of this paper is to study heat transfer characteristics of rotating heat pipe with tapered condensers by numerical analysis and experimental method. An experimental investigation has been carried out on thermal resistance between condenser wall and vapor region fo the rotating heat pipe with various taper 0, 1/11.4, 1/38. Heat transfer characteristics by analytical study were applied to describe various Nu numbers on the base of dimensionless condensate film, Re and Pr numbers in both condensers. Comparison between calculated results and experimental data showed qualitatively good agreement and the numerical analysis of this study can be utilized to predict the performance of a rotating heat pipe. The thermal resistance can be decreased by increasing the revolution per minute. Regardless of various dimensionless condensate film, Nu number was largely influenced by saturation temperatures of working fluid.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.325-332
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• 1999

When a rotating heat pipe is in operation, liquid condensate returns from the condenser to the evaporator along the inside surface by both components of gravitational and centrifugal forces. It was known that its performance was largely dependent on how to increase the flow rates of condensate and keep the condensate film thickness as thin as possible. Most of research works were focussed on this goal, and various inner wall structures such as tapered wall, stepped wall or coil inserted pipe etc. were developed. In the present study, a stepped wall structure with 3 internal grooves in the condenser and adiabatic zone was examined. For this system, the condensate would flow down to the evaporator through the grooves, resulting a reduced film thickness over the condenser surface. Experimental data showed an enhancement of heat transfer coefficient in the condenser zone. An analytical solution to the condensate film thickness showed that the analytically calculated values of heat transfer coefficient were considerably higher than the experimental data.