The effect of wick geometry on the operation of a longitudinal heat pipe.

Abstract

Evaporative heat transfer limits were obtained and studied for an everted heat pipe with varying wick geometries. The wick geometries were a function of the wire mesh size and the total wick thickness. A nickel heat pipe was built and operated using both water and ethyl alcohol as the working fluids. The different wick materials used were 50 mesh, 80 mesh, and 150 mesh, plain weave, nickel wire cloth. The scope of the investigation included operating the pipe at 25 inches mercury vacuum, 10 inches mercury vacuum, and 5 pounds per square inch gage. The maximum heat transfer was found to increase as the mesh size was decreased, as the wick thickness was increased, or as the pressure was increased. The equipment used to obtain experimental data is described and experimental results and sample calculations are presented.