Solar Energy Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 313-326, 1991 0038--O92X/91 $3.00 + .

00
Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright © 1991 Pergamon Press plc

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF INCLINED

OPEN T H E R M O S Y P H O N S

M. BEHNIA and G. L. MORRISON

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Australia

Abstract--This paper describes an investigation of free convective flow and thermal structures in an open
ended inclined cylindrical thermosyphon with application to an evacuated tubular solar collector. The flow
structure was visualised using dye and rheoscopic tracer particles and temperature measurements were made
by a traversing thermocouple rake. During steady-state uniform heating a significant stagnant region was
observed near the closed end of the tube, the length of which decreased with increasing wall temperature.
For the case of differential heating, with the top half of the tube cross section at a higher temperature than
the bottom half, there was no stagnant region. When the top half was at a lower temperature than the bottom
half, there was a significant region of multicellular motion in the closed end of the tube. An inactive stagnant
or multicellular region in an evacuated tube solar collector and other open thermosyphons would decrease
the effectivenessof the heat transfer through the open end of the tube.

l. INTRODUCTION the maximum tube aspect ratio that could be used

Natural convection of fluids in the presence of gravi-
tational or Coriolis forces can be implemented as an
effective means for cooling (or heating) applications.
A particular application of this process is the transfer
of heat from the hot wails of a tube to a cold reservoir.
This is referred to as thermosyphon circulation. In the
first scientifically documented application of such de-
vices, Holzwarth[1] suggested a system for cooling of
gas turbine blades. Ernest Schmidt[2] also proposed
to use a thermosyphon for cooling turbine blades, and
a turbine incorporating his idea was designed and built
in Germany during World War II. The thermosyphon
problem, with many engineering applications, has been
the focus of numerous experimental and analytical
studies. Such applications include, but are not limited
to, cooling of turbine blades, electrical machine rotors,
transformers, nuclear reactors, cryogenic equipment,
internal combustion engines, water tube boilers, and
solar collector tubes. A comprehensive review of the
applications and pertinent research is given by Ja-
pikse [ 3 ].
Thermosyphon systems in the form of a tube, open
to a reservoir at the top and closed at the lower end,
are referred to as open thermosyphons. The study re-
ported in this paper describes an experimental inves-
tigation of heat transfer by natural convection in an
inclined heated tube sealed at its lower end and con-
nected to a large constant temperature reservoir at the
upper end. The direct application of interest is that of
evacuated tubular solar collectors.
2. PREVIOUS WORK
The first reported study of open thermosyphons was
an analytical study by Eckert and Jackson[4] using
the assumptions that the flow was basically a boundary
layer phenomenon and that it would be turbulent in
most practical applications. They attempted to find
313
without the boundary layer becoming thick enough to
block the circulation in the tube.
The first experiments on an open thermosyphon
were reported by Foyle[2] who observed that eddy
motion developed as the fluid passed between the tube
and the reservoir. He also noted that the heat transfer
was independent of the tube length beyond a certain
critical value, though it increased quickly with increas-
ing diameter.
Lighthill[5 ] presented the first detailed analytical
study ofthermosyphons for laminar and turbulent flow.
Leslie[6] extended Lighthill's analysis to include the
effect of small angles of inclination to the vertical. De-
tailed experimental studies of the problem have been
carded out by Foster[7 ] and Martini8]. The analytical
study performed by Lighthill has served as the foun-
dation for most thermosyphon analysis and it identifies
the basic flow regimes in an open thermosyphon.
Lighthill's analysis yielded three laminar regimes and
three turbulent regimes. For large tube aspect ratios
(i.e., radius/length) or large Rayleigh numbers, Light-
hill showed that a boundary layer flow will apply since
the boundary layer will occupy only a small portion
of the tube. For smaller aspect ratios the boundary
layers reach the centreline of the tube and the incoming
and outgoing streams interfere and restrict the circu-
lation, thus giving rise to a second regime. For high
aspect ratios the interaction of wall effects produces a
constant flow profile and a similarity solution is thus
possible, giving a third flow regime.
Leslie [ 6 ] published the first analytical treatment of
an inclined thermosyphon. He used a laminar pertur-
bation technique restricted to small inclination angles.
His analysis showed that tilting increased the heat
transfer for both the impeded similarity solution and
for the boundary layer flow solution. This analysis does
not reproduce the unstable effects that were shown by
Martin to decrease the heat transfer for small incli-
nations; however, qualitative agreement was observed
with Martin's measurements for larger angles.
314 M. BEHNIAand G. L. MORRISON
For vertical thermosyphons Lighthill [ 5 ] predicted
that if the product of Rayleigh number times the aspect
ratio is less than 350, a stagnant region forms at the
closed end of the tube. For an inclined tube the nature
of the flow is governed by this parameter multiplied
by the cosine of the tube inclination to the vertical.
Martin [ 9 ] presented the first experimental study of
inclined open thermosyphon behaviour for both lam-
inar and turbulent conditions. For a Prandtl number
in the range of 20-700, it was observed that the Nusselt
number initially decreased with increasing inclination
up to six degrees from the vertical. For larger angles,
the Nusselt number increased and reached the value
for a vertical tube at an inclination of 45 °. The initial
drop in heat transfer was attributed to a disorderly flow
pattern and the consequent mixing of the hot and cold
fluid streams. For larger angles the secondary pressure
gradients normal to the tube axis, yielded a more stable
flow structure in which the hot stream is displaced to-
ward the top edge.
3. PRESENT STUDY
The particular application that prompted this study
is the problem of heat extraction in Dewar type evac-
uated tubular solar collectors. Several types of absorber
tubes have been designed, the most common design
consists of two concentric glass tubes closed at one end
with the inner tube (the solar absorber) being coated
by a selective surface. These evacuated tubular solar
collectors consist of a number of 30-50 m m diameter,
1.5-2.5 m long glass tubes manifolded at one end. The
absorbed energy can be removed by natural convection
of water in and out of the open end of tubes to the
large diameter header tube. Details of the evacuated
tubular solar collectors and manifolding are given by
Window and Harding [ 10 ], Window [ 11 ], and Zhiqiang
et al.[121.
In the present study, an experimental apparatus was
designed and built to study the flow structure and tem-
perature field in an open ended inclined thermosyphon
differentially heated and connected to a large tank.
Numerical modelling of the flow is currently underway
and will be reported later. The experimental study
complements the work of Zhiqiang et al.[12] who
measured temperature gradients along the outer wall
of an electrically heated tube but did not investigate
the flow structure in the tube.
This study also applies to other applications such
as flow in turbine blades, nuclear reactors and trans-
former cooling. In these flows, fluid adjacent to the
heated tube wall rises (due to buoyancy) to the upper
side of the inclined tube and discharges from the open
end, while cool fluid is drawn into the bottom side of
the open end of the tube. Inclination of the tube sets
up a pressure gradient normal to the tube axis, which
assists the circulation of fluid from the bottom to top
side of the tube. Inclination of the tube might be ex-
pet:ted to improve the heat transfer relative to vertical
tubes.
3.1 Experimental apparatus
The experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 1 was
designed to simulate the geometry of an evacuated tu-
bular solar collector. The thermosyphon tube was made
of a glass cylinder 1300 m m long and 21.3 mm in
internal diameter with a 0.5 m m wall thickness. A
concentric annular heat exchanger (jacket) 1200 m m
long and 60 m m in diameter was placed around the
tube for heating. The heat exchanger was made of per-
spex for visualising the flow in the central tube. This
heating jacket was partitioned in such a way that the
top and bottom halves of the tube cross section could
be independently heated. The partition consisted of a
2 m m thick splitter plate located in the annular space
between the inner glass tube and the concentric perspex
heat exchanger outer wall. If the tube was moved to a
horizontal position the splitter plate would also be
horizontal. The tube was heated by circulating water
from two constant temperature baths through the two
halves of the heating jacket at a flow rate of about 15
L/rain. The flow rate was sufficiently high to ensure
isothermal conditions on the outside of the glass tube.
The thermosyphon tube was connected by a 100 m m
long unheated section of tube to an isothermal reservoir
of 500 × 500 m m cross section. A 300 m m depth of
water was maintained above the thermosyphon tube
to ensure a uniform reservoir temperature at the level
of the thermosyphon entry during the experiment.
The thermosyphon tube was sealed at its lower end
and the open top end was connected to the large con-
stant temperature reservoir. The distance from the
connection point to the bottom of the reservoir was
300 ram. Three connection points were provided on
the side of the reservoir so that the tube could be in-
clined at angles of 30", 45", and 60* (to the vertical).
The fluid temperature inside the tube was measured
by a specially designed traversing thermocouple rake
(Fig. 2). Five very fine copper constantan thermocou-
pies were fed through the 2 m m shaft o f a 2 m m stain-
less steel T-bar rake. One of the thermocouples was
mounted on the centre of the head of the rake which
spanned the thermosyphon tube diameter. The other
four thermocouples were mounted 5 and 10 m m on
either side of the centreline of the tube. The rake could
be moved axially along the tube by feeding it through
a sealed gland in the bottom end of the thermosyphon
tube. The T-bar was moved very slowly by hand to the
desired location and the temperatures were recorded
aRer equilibrium conditions were achieved. The ther-
mocouples were calibrated prior to installation in the
tube.
A calibrated thermocouple was also used to measure
the tank water temperature. The thermocouple was
located in the tank at the level of the entrance to the
thermosyphon tube. A traversing thermocouple was
also used in the reservoir to check for uniform con-
ditions over the depth of the thermocouple tube entry.
A multichannel data logger was used for recording the
thermocouple outputs at prescribed time intervals.
For flow visualisation, a three outlet 2 m m stainless
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons
/ Constant
T
I
6 0 0 mm
T
300mm
500 mm
Fig. I. General arrangement of the experimental apparatus.
steel T-bar, similar to the thermocouple rake, was de-
signed for thymol blue dye or rheoscopic tracer solution
injection into the thermosyphon tube. This tube could
either be inserted from the open top of the thermo-
syphon or from the closed end in place of the ther-
mocouple T-bar tube. The dye or rheoscopic tracer
solution was fed into the tube from a temperature reg-
ulated reservoir. The tracer particles were illuminated
by a sheet of light produced by a cylindrical lens.
3.2 Experimentalprocedure
For all experiments, the reservoir was filled with
water to a depth of 600 ram. The reservoir was filled
with water at the laboratory temperature, thoroughly
mixed to eliminate thermal stratification and then
covered with insulation and allowed to settle for two
hours to ensure that no currents existed in the tank.
During this time the two constant temperature baths
315
temperature rese r voi r
Glass tube
W a t e r from constant
temperature bath 1 _
Water from
constant
temperature bath 2
were regulated to the desired temperatures. The heating
was then started by passing the water from the constant
temperature baths through the two halves of the heat
exchanger for a period of about one hour to ensure
steady state conditions. The temperature in the res-
ervoir at the entrance to the thermosyphon tube re-
mained constant during each test. This was achieved
by using a large reservoir ( 500 X 500 mm cross section )
and a 300 m m depth of water above the thermosyphon
tube entry. During a test the hot layer of water that
developed at the top of the reservoir did not penetrate
to the level of the thermosyphon entry.
Once steady state was reached, temperature mea-
surement a n d / o r dye injection was initiated. The flow
was visualised by either a diluted solution of thymol
blue dye or a rheoscopic tracer solution. During the
flow visualisation experiments, the flow pattern was
recorded by hand-drawn sketches and still photogra-
316 M. BEHNIAand G. L. MORRISON
Glass tube
Perspex tube~_
Heating fluid ~D.
from bath1 --"---r
End cover
Fig. 2. Sectional view of the thermocouple rake inside the thermosyphon tube.
phy. The temperature distribution along the tube was
recorded by slowly traversing the thermocouple rake.
4. RESULTS
The first stage of the project reported in this paper
is concerned with the overall flow and thermal struc-
tures as well as the stability of the flow, this information
is needed to gain a better understanding of the problem
in order to develop a numerical method for the pre-
diction of flow structure and heat transfer. To this end,
two series of experiments were performed. In the first
series, the heating fluid temperature in both halves of
the jacket was the same--this is referred to as uniform
heating. In the second series, the heating fluid tem-
perature in the two halves of the jacket were different
(i.e., differential heating). It is noted that the tube
heating technique used here corresponds to nearly
uniform (along the tube) thermosyphon wall temper-
atures.
4.1 Uniform heating results
The experiments were performed for tube inclina-
tions of 30, 45, and 60 °. For each inclination a series
of experiments were carried out for temperature dif-
ferences between the water jacket and the reservoir
from AT = 2 K up to the point where temperature
unsteadiness was detected in the tube. For these angles
of inclination the flow structure consisted of two re-
Thermocouples
Heating fluid
from bath 2
Thermocoupte rake
gions: ( 1) an active region where there is circulation
of fluid between the tank and tube and (2) a stagnant
region near the closed end of the tube in which there
is very little circulation. For AT = 4 K, the flow patterns
for angles of 0 = 30 ° and 60 ° are shown in Figs. 3 and
4. The stagnant region was identified by dye injection
and was found to be very stable, occupying a fixed
length of the tube for the duration of the experiments
(up to 8 hours). The stability of the stagnant region
was investigated by physically disturbing the interface
between the stagnant and recirculating regions using
the thermocouple rake; it was found to be stable. Fur-
ther, the stagnant region was also disturbed thermally
by increasing the heating jacket fluid temperature until
the flow became turbulent and the stagnant region
broke up. The temperature was then reduced to the
initial value and reestablishment of the stagnant region
was observed.
Flow structure in the circulating region of the ther-
mosyphon was studied by injecting dye in the flow
region between the tube inlet and the top of the stagnant
region. Flow visualisation at the tube mouth indicated
that cold flow from the reservoir entered through the
bottom two-thirds of the cross section and the hot flow
left through the top one-third of the orifice cross-sec-
tional area. As the cold flow in the bottom of the tube
was heated, it moved up and around the curved walls
until it entered the reverse hot stream at the top of the
tube. The plan view of the patterns of stream lines
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons
\X \
Fig. 3. Flow pattern inside thermosyphon tube for 30° inclination (uniform heating).
(observed. by dye tracing) appeared in the form of a
crescent ( Figs. 3 and 4). The dye tracing indicated that
the outgoing flow was faster in the case of steeper angles.
For this heating condition ( A T = Tj,cket- T , ~ o i r = 4
K), the first streak line from the cold stream peeled
off and joined the outgoing flow at a distance of 20
diameters (D) from the orifice for 60 ° inclination and
at 30D from the orifice for 30 °. Before the interchange
with the warm outgoing stream begins, the incoming
stream travels a greater distance down the tube for
tube inclination of 30 ° than for 60 °. The length of the
stagnant region was about 5D and 16D for 30 ° and
60 ° inclination, respectively. The length of each cres-
317
PLAIN
~0 ";; VIEW
SIDE
VIEW
cent formed when a stream line turned up the tube
wall and entered the hot return stream was 4D for 30 °
and 2D for 60 ° inclination (Figs. 3 and 4).
Lighthill [ 5 ] suggested that the modified parameter
(for inclined tubes) that predicts the existence of a
stagnant region is defined as:
r =Rar.cosO/L
where Ra is the Rayleigh number based on the tube
radius (r) and the temperature difference between the
wall and the tube axis; L is the tube length. According
to Lighthill if the value o f t is less than 350, the stagnant
318 M. BEHNIAand G. L. MORRISON

76"o

~,,J'~>,~ST'.,, PLAN VIEW

"r4"G/04/
SIDE VIEW
Fig. 4. Flow pattern inside thermosyphon tube for 60 ° inclination (uniform heating).

region forms. For the tube geometry used in this study, In open thermosyphon tubes, a partitioning plate
the critical value of T corresponds to a temperature is sometimes placed at the opening to separate the cold
difference of less than 2.8, 3.4, and 4.8 K for inclina- incoming and hot outgoing streams[ 10]. In order to
tions of 30, 45, and 60 ° , respectively. These values of determine the effect of the tube entry geometry on the
Lighthilrs modified criteria were found to underesti- flow, the horizontal centreline of the inlet orifice (21.3
mate the conditions at which a stagnant region devel- m m dia.) was covered by a 5 mm wide tape. It was
oped in the experiments reported here. This may be observed that the length of the stagnant region de-
due to Lighthill's assumption of a very large Prandtl creased by 75% compared to the unrestricted entry.
number that resulted in inertia terms being neglected This effect is attributed to better separation of the in-
in the governing equations. coming and outgoing streams. Further, when the tape
The observed ratio of stagnant region length to total was replaced by a 5 mm diameter cylindrical rod, the
tube length ( L J L ) as a function of the parameter ~-
for different inclinations is #oven in Fig. 5. It is noted
that the Rayleigh number was based on the tube radius 0"8
and the temperature difference between the heating
jacket fluid and the reservoir ( A T ) . In Lighthill's cor-
relation the temperature difference is between the tube
wall and the incoming fluid. Due to the temperature Ls/Lo. 4
drop across the glass tube the temperature difference
used to correlate the experimental data shown in Fig.
5 will be approximately 20% larger than the temper-
ature difference between the inside wall surface and
o.21_ "--4=_230 °
the incoming fluid (estimated from the conductivity
ofthe glass tube and the free convection film resistance
on the inside surface of the tube. For a #oven heating
2 6 10 1/, 18 22 28
condition (i.e., A T ) , the length of the stagnant region
(L,) is the smallest at 0 = 45 °, and largest at 30 °. The Ratcose/1oo
smaller the value of Ls the greater is the length of tube
actively transferring energy to the open top. Therefore, Fig. 5. Observed nondimensional length of stagnant region
from this point of view, of the three angles tested, the versus inclination for uniform heating. (Arrow indicates
45 ° inclination yields better energy extraction. Lightill's large Prandtl number criteria.)
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons 319

1.0 1.0

0"8-- :)'8 To

0-6-
Y 3-6
t

0-/.- )-4

T2
0-2~- ).2
AT= 2K AT=/. K

1 I I I I 1 I
0 0
0-2 0.4 0.6 0-8 1.0 0 0-2 0.4 0-6 0"8 1.0
XIL ×IL
(a) (b)

1"0 1"0

0"8-- 3"8
To To
0"6 )'6

t
0"4 )./,

0'2
AT=6 K
)'2 1 =
m 0 I I J I
0 0-2 0.4 0"6 0"8 1"0 0 0"2 0./. 0"6 0"8 1-0
X/L XIL
(c) (d)
Fig. 6. Dimensionless fluid temperature along a thermosyphon tube inclined at 30* (uniform heating).

same effect was observed. When the obstructions were
placed vertically across the opening, the length of the
stagnant region increased by 50% and 30% for the tape
and cylindrical rod, respectively. Thus the boundary
conditions at the open end of the thermosyphon have
a significant effect on the flow structure near the closed
end of the tube. Modelling this open end boundary
condition is the most difl~cult aspect of numerical sim-
ulation of this type of flow.
The fluid temperatures measured inside the tube
were nondimensionalised with respect to the temper-
ature difference between the jacket and the reservoir
( A T ) , i.e.,
t = (Tx- T~r~oir)lAT
where t is the dimensionless temperature and Tx is the
fluid temperature at location x measured from the
320 M. BEHNIAand G. L. MORRISON

T°~T~T
~
1-0 1.o

0"8
0.8~

-6 0.6-

0-4 - T~
0"2 0-2 A T=/., K T4\

0
&Ti- 0
0
t
0.2
I
0.Z.
I
0"6
l
0"8 1"0
0 0"2 0.4 0"6 0-8 1.0 X/L
X/L
(b)
(a)

1"0 I

,°t
0"8
0 . 8 ~
0"6
o,_

°i 0 0-2 0"4 0"6 0-8 1"0 0

0
AT=8K

I
0"2
I
0.4
I
0"6
I
0"8
"~

1"0
X/L
X/L
(c) (d)
Fig. 7. Dimensionless fluid temperature along a thermosyphon tube inclined at 45 ° (uniform heating).

closed end of the tube. The distance x was nondimen-
sionalised with respect to the total thermosyphon tube
length L. The thermocouple rake was positioned such
that temperature profiles were measured on a vertical
plane passing through the axis of the tube. For an in-
clination of 30 ° , the dimensionless temperature profiles
for different heating conditions are shown in Fig. 6.
The open end of the thermosyphon is located at x / L
= 1. The temperature profiles To and 7"4 are the di-
mensionless temperatures near the top and bottom
walls of the tube, respectively. 7"2 is the dimensionless
temperature along the axis of the tube. T~ and 7"3 are
dimensionless temperatures halfway between To, 7"2
and Tz, 7"4 positions, respectively. The interface be-
tween the recirculating and stagnant regions can be
identified from where the temperature profiles merge
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons 321

1"0 1.0

0"~ -- 3.8

TI
0.I- }6-
t
0.4- )./., -

0.2- ).2-
AT=/-, K AT= 6 K

1 1 L I 0 I
0
0 02 0.4 0-6 0"8 1-0 0 0"2 0-4 0-6 0-8 1.0
X/L X/L
(a) (b)

1.0 A 1"0

0-8 f 0"8
f
0"6- 0-6 TI
t t
0-4- 0"4
T2

0-2- 0.2

0 I I I I 0 -I "4
0 0"2 0"/.. 0"6 0"8 1"0 0 0.2 0'/.. 0.6 0.8 1.0
X/L X/L
(c) (d)
Fig. 8. Dimensionless fluid temperature along a thermosyphon tube inclined at 60 ° (uniform heating).

together. At this point, there is a very sharp temperature
gradient in the stagnant region. As expected from the
flow visualisation results, the temperature measure-
ments also indicate that the stagnant region length de-
creases with an increase in the temperature difference
between the reservoir and the jacket (AT). Similar
behaviour was observed from temperature measure-
ments at other tube inclinations (see Figs. 7 and 8).
Again, in support of the flow visualisation results, for
a given heating condition, the temperature measure-
ments indicate a shorter stagnant region at 45 ° (com-
pared to 30 ° and 60 ° inclinations), for 45 ° a AT > 4
K destroys the stagnant region.
It can be seen that for a low AT, temperature profile
T, crosses T~ toward the end of the recirculation zone.
This is due to very weak recirculation near the stagnant
region resulting in heat transfer by conduction becom-
ing more significant than convection in this region.
322 M. BEHNIA and G: L. MORRISON

%
O

Fig. 9. Flow pattern inside a thermosyphon tube for the dif- O~

ferential heating and tube inclination of 60*.

Further, it is also observed t h a t the t e m p e r a t u r e near O

the u p p e r wall o f the t u b e decreases towards the tube
e n t r a n c e (see To profiles). T h i s is d u e to m i x i n g be-
tween h o t fluid m o v i n g along the u p p e r wall o f the
tube with cold inlet fluid convected up the curved walls. 8K O J'
F o r all t u b e inclinations a n d heating conditions,
t h e t e m p e r a t u r e o f the cold fluid stream o n the b o t t o m
o f t h e t u b e increased all the way d o w n to the s t a g n a n t Fig. 10. Temperature difference (with respect to the reservoir)
end. T h i s c a n be seen from 7"4 profiles in Figs. 6-8. measured on a vertical plane passing through the centre of
the tube, inclination = 30*.

4.2 Differential heating results

This series o f e x p e r i m e n t s were p e r f o r m e d with the
the t e m p e r a t u r e difference between the heating fluid
fluid in the 2 halves o f the heating j a c k e t at different
a n d the reservoir ( A T ) . W i t h the t o p h a l f A T l e s s t h a n
temperatures. T h e heating c o n d i t i o n is identified by
t h a t o f the b o t t o m half, the flow structure was different
from t h a t o f u n i f o r m heating. In this case, the bulk
flow from the t a n k p e n e t r a t e d in the tube in a similar
fashion to u n i f o r m heating. However, instead o f the
Table 1. Length of the multicellular region for different
tube inclinations and heating conditions* s t a g n a n t region at the e n d o f the tube, there was a
multicellular region w h i c h was visualized by injecting
Length of stagnant or multiceUular rheoscopic tracer particles. F o r a heating c o n d i t i o n o f
region (mm) the b o t t o m a n d t o p halves A T equal to 8 a n d 4 K,
Tube
inclination 30* 45 ° 60 ° respectively, the flow p a t t e r n at a n inclination o f 60 °
is given in Fig. 9. F o r this particular experiment, the
ATtop = 4 K length o f the multicellular region was 30 tube diame-
- - O - - 100 t 80* 350t ters.
ATbot = 4 K Flow visualisation e x p e r i m e n t s were carried o u t at
different heating c o n d i t i o n s a n d tube inclinations to
- - O - - 250 300 550 q u a n t i f y the length o f the multiceilular region. T h e
ATt~ = 5 K
results are t a b u l a t e d in Table I. For c o m p a r i s o n pur-
ATto, = 4 K poses, the u n i f o r m heating results (i.e., the length o f
- - O- - 300 340 660 the s t a g n a n t region) are also included. Increased bot-
A T~,,~ = 6 K t o m half heating results in increased multicellular re-
ATto, = 4 K gion length at the e n d o f the tube. W h e n the b o t t o m
- - 0 - - 400 500 720 half o f the tube is at a higher t e m p e r a t u r e t h a n the t o p
AT~ = 8 K
half, the cooler d e n s e r fluid layers are situated above
ATtoo = 4 K the w a r m e r ones a n d as a consequence, a muiticellular
- - 0 - - 450 560 800 flow is established in this region. It is n o t e d t h a t unlike
&Tb~ = 10 K
the u n i f o r m heating results, the length o f this region
* Tube diameter = 21.3 ram, tube length = 1200 mm. increases m o n o t o n i c a l l y with the tube inclination.
t Indicates stagnant ~ , i o n . T e m p e r a t u r e profiles m e a s u r e d o n a vertical plane
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons 323

For the bottom and top half AT of 4 and 8 K, respec-

tively, the temperature profiles are shown in Fig. 14.
In this case, for all inclinations, the fluid near the top
half is consistently warmer than the fluid near the bot-
tom half. It is noted that the incoming bulk flow is
7.0, heated all the way to the end of the tube (see T2, T3,
:% and 7"4). The outgoing flow is heated part way up the
tube and then cooled by the incoming flow before it
leaves the open end (see To and T~ ). It is interesting
to note that the outgoing To at the mouth of the ther-
mosyphon is nearly the same for both 30 ° and 45 °
~'c inclinations.
For an inclination of 45 ° the temperature profiles
8K~ indicate a similar trend to those of Zhiqiang et al.[ 12 ].
It should be noted that their measurements were based
on a constant wall heat flux condition; however, our
Fig. 11. Temperature difference(with respect to the reservoir) results correspond to a nearly uniform wall tempera-
measured on a vertical plane passing through the centre of lure.
the tube, inclination = 45 °.

5. CONCLUSIONS
passing through the centre of the tube at different lo-
Free convection flow and temperature fields in an
cations for the top and bottom half AT of 4 and 8. K,
open-ended inclined cylindrical thermosyphon with
respectively, are given in Figs. 10 to 12. It is noted that
application to evacuated tube solar collectors have been
in these figures the temperature difference with respect
experimentally studied in the laboratory. Different tube
to the reservoir is plotted. In the multicellular zone
inclinations and heating conditions were considered.
near the closed end, the temperature adjacent to the
For uniform heating of a single-ended thermosyphon
top half tube wall is somewhat lower than the bottom.
tube, a significant stable stagnant region exists near the
However, in the bulk flow region, the temperature near
closed end of the tube, the length of which decreases
the top half is highei" although the bottom half heating
with increasing heating fluid temperature. The stagnant
is more intense. This is due to the fact that as the fluid
region length varies nonmonotonicaily with the angle
is heated near the bottom it rises to the top of the tube
of inclination and shows a m i n i m u m at 45 °.
and is then convected away toward the open end.
The tube entry geometry was found to be important.
The results presented in Figs. 10-12 are repiotted
For the differential heating with the top half of the
in Fig. 13 as the temperature measured by each indi-
tube cross section at a lower temperature than the bot-
vidual thermocouple along the tube. For the case of
tom half, there was a significant region of cellular mo-
differential heating, the dimensionless temperature, t
tion near the closed end of the tube. For the top half
is defined in the same way as for uniform heating ex-
heating more intensely than the bottom half, there was
periments but the larger AT is used. The temperature
profiles along the tube indicate that near the closed
end 7"4 is slightly higher than To for all inclination
angles (Fig. 13 ). However, toward the open end To is
markedly higher than T4. The crossing of these two
profiles corresponds to the interface between the mul-
ticellular and the bulk flow regions. Further, as the
fluid enters the tube, it is heated along the tube by the
heating jacket bottom wall (see 7"2, T3, and 7"4profiles
in Fig. 13). The outgoing fluid near the top wall is
continuously cooled (see To and Tj profiles). The gra-
z~ <l~r<J
dient of T2, T3, and 7"4 profiles is sharper than that of
To and T~.
Experiments were also performed with the top half
jacket temperature difference higher than the lower
half. Flow field observations indicated that the bulk
flow entering from the reservoir penetrated to the end
of the thermosyphon tube and no stagnant or multi-
' 18K, "'~~~
cellular regions existed. In this case, increased top half Fig. 12. Temperature difference (with respect to the reservoir)
heating resulted in a stronger bulk flow between the measured on a vertical plane passing through the centre of
tank and the tube compared to that of uniform heating. the tube, inclination = 60 °.
324 M. BEHNIAand G. L. MORRISON

0"8 0:30 ° 0"8 - 8 =45 °

0'6 0-6

t
ro t To
T1
O'Z. ]'1 0- 4

&T=4 K
0.2
&T=4 N
0.2

AT=8 K
'3
o0 0"2
~0"4 0"6 0"8 1"0 0 0-2 0-4 0"6 0'8 1.0
X/L X/L
(a) (b)

0"81 0=60*

t ro

Fig. 13. Dimensionless fluid temperature along the tube for

differential heating.

AT=4K

rel ..... i , ~T,

0 0"2 0.4 0"6 0"8 1.0
X/L

(c)

a strong bulk flow that penetrated the entire length of than top heating, the multicellular circulation observed
the tube. As evacuated tubular solar absorbers in con- in these experiments may influence the thermosyphon
centrating collectors experience higher bottom heating energy extraction efficiency.
 An experimental investigation of inclined open thermosyphons 325

0.~ - 0=30 o
0.8 O'=45 o

~ To
To
0"6
0.6
t
t
0"4
0-4

0.2
0"2~

KL I I T4
0 0 I I I I I ~
0 0"2 0"4 0"6 0"8 1'0 0 0"2 0"4 0-6 0"8 1"0
X/L
(a) (b)

0'8 - 0=60 °

0.6
- ~ To

t T~

0 " 4 ~
Fig. 14. Variation of dimensionless fluid temperature along
the tube for differential heating.

0 I t I I I
0 0.2 0.4 0-6 0'8 1"0
X/L

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Inst. Mech. Eng. ASME London, Conf. Proc., p. 382
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Ruhn(1938). Heat Trans., 9, 1-111, (1972).
326 M. BEHNIA and G. L. MORRISON
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