Thermal performance of flexible branch heat pipe

In order to decrease the maximum temperature of the polymer tube and increase the thermal performance of the flexible heat pipe, a Y-shaped flexible branch heat pipe was designed and fabricated. Effects of structural parameters, including filling ratio of working fluid, heating power, bending angle, inclined angle, orientation angle and blockage ratio, on the thermal performance of a flexible branch heat pipe are systematically investigated. Results show that the flexible branch heat pipe has a higher cooling ability and a larger maximum heat load compared with the straight one. Flexible branch heat pipe with 15% filling ratio of working fluid has the smallest thermal resistance while the pipe with 45% filling ratio has the best anti-gravity performance. Moreover, we found that the thermal resistances of condensers for the branch heat pipe are mutually dependent. The cooling structure of the flexible branch heat pipe is changed from two condensers to one condenser when one of the condensers fails, which degrades the total cooling performance of heat pipe and increases the maximum temperature, in spite of the decrease of its total thermal resistance.

Automated summary

The Y-shaped flexible branch heat pipe was designed to improve the thermal performance of the polymer tube. Various structural parameters were studied to investigate their effects on the cooling ability, heat load, thermal resistance, and anti-gravity performance of the flexible heat pipe. The findings show that the thermal resistance and cooling performance are interdependent, and the total cooling performance may degrade if one of the condensers fails.