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

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Author
Kilmartin, Hugh Edward Jr.
Date
1969-06Advisor
Pucci, Paul F.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.