OVERVIEW OF HEAT PIPE STUDIES DURING THE PERIOD 2010-2015

Despite numerous studies conducted on heat pipes over the last 50 years, the development of predictive tools for the design of heat pipes remains challenging, even for conventional technologies. As a result, heat pipes are still the subject of more than 250 scientific articles each year. The present review aims to identify and understand the current scientific approaches followed by scientists in heat pipe science. Different types of heat pipes are reviewed in order to identify the main phenomena involved in these systems. A brief overview of the heat pipe history is given and different applications are presented. A global review of recent studies on heat pipes is then presented. Advances are identified in terms of heat pipe characterization, scientific issues linked to the working fluid, understanding phase-change heat transfer in thin liquid films, and system modeling. Examples of recent studies are detailed to highlight strategies that can be followed to answer current issues. This global review highlights the main advances in heat pipe science over the last five years and draws perspectives on forthcoming scientific results.