Comparative Study of Heat Pipes Performances in Different Orientations

CK Loh, Enisa Harris and DJ Chou

Enertron, Inc
100 W. Hoover Ave, Suite 5
Mesa, Arizona 85210
(480) 649-5400
Email: ckloh@enertron-inc.com

results are presented for ambient temperatures of 35, 45 and

Abstract
55°C.
The orientation of a heat pipe plays an important role in its
performance. The performance of a heat pipe under specific 1.1. Previous Works
orientations is directly related to its wick structure. Wick Sauciuc (2000) studied the heat pipe performance with
structures with low capillary limit work best under gravity- different wick structures under increasing heat load at gravity-
assisted conditions, where the evaporator is located below the assisted orientation.
condenser. There are numerous published studies that Reid and Merrigan (1997) at Los Alamos National
explore heat pipe performance limits, however none of them Laboratory conducted a literary survey reviewing the heat
explicitly looked into the effect of orientation on heat pipe pipe activity in this country dating from 1990 to 1995. In the
performance with different wick structures. The objective of Heat Pipe Performance Limit section, they found a number of
this paper is to conduct a comparative study on heat pipe technical papers and books performed experimental studies on
performance with different wick structures subjected to the 4 major limitations of heat pipe – capillary, boiling,
different orientations. The published results maybe serve as a entrainment and transport limit.
reference for mechanical and electrical engineers when they Shimura (2002) investigated the heat pipe thermal
try to incorporate heat pipes into their thermal solutions. resistance with different working fluids at various inclination
Keywords angles in gravity-assisted condition.
Heat pipe, wick structures, gravity-assisted, angles of 2. Experimental Setup
orientation Workstation
(Automate & Control the Test)
1. Introduction
The performance of the heat pipe depends on numerous
factors. Heat pipe diameter and length (particularly the Servo Unit
adiabatic length) are one of the factors determining how much DAQ
(Stepper Motor Control)
(Temperature Logging)
heat the pipe can transfer. However, other factors are equally
important. A heat pipe performance ultimately depends on
the application (i.e. how and where the heat pipe is used).
The heat pipe flattening and or bending, ambient temperature
Programmable
as well as the orientation of the heat pipe will influence its Power Supply
Power Supply
(Power Stepper Motor)
performance. (Power Heat Source)
This paper investigates the influence on the performance Water Cooled
of the heat pipes with the changes in the orientation angle the Condenser Stepper
from –90° to +90°. The paper investigates three heat pipe Section Motor
Heat Pipe Test
wick structures and their performance with the changes in the Chiller Assembly
orientation.
First, the paper examines and compares the performance
of different wick heat pipes at various inclination angels at Figure 1. Test Setup Schematic
fixed heat load. The results are presented for 3 different
diameter heat pipes. Figure 1 shows the schematic of the test setup. The entire
Second, a performance of the three different wick heat test cycle is controlled and automated by computer. The
pipe was examined at increasing power intensity at different DAQ and terminal block are used for temperature logging.
inclination angles. The results are presented for 6mm The programmable power supply communicates with the
diameter pipes. computer through GPIB interface to control the heat load, and
Finally, the performance of a 6mm diameter, sintered the servo unit controls the stepper motor for inclination angles
powder metal heat pipe was examined with the changes in the tuning. The refrigerated circulating bath provides cooling to
ambient temperature as well as the inclination angle. The the condenser section of the test assembly. The main purpose

21st IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium

of the chiller is to maintain a constant cooling temperature at
the condenser blocks throughout the heat pipe testing process.
Figure 2. Test Control Interface
The program controls for DAQ and Servo Unit were
coded in LabVIEW™ graphical language. Figure 2 displays
the program interface for heat pipe testing. The program
allowed us to input the initial stepping voltage, the maximum
heat load in Watts, and the maximum current setting. In
addition, the program also managed the programmable power
supply such that the heat load is always maintained at ± 5% of
its input value.
Figure 3. Heat pipe experimental setup.
Figure 3 depicts the heat pipe performance test setup. The
test assembly was designed to fit heat pipes of different
diameters and lengths. The heat pipe test sample is placed in
the center groove between the copper blocks, held together by
screws. The dimensions of the copper blocks are 55W x 55L
x 8H mm. On the evaporator side, the bottom copper block is
directly mounted on the heat source (40 x 40 mm TEC). The
heat source sits in a square cut out on the Phenolic insulator
block. The copper blocks are mounted on the insulator blocks
using screws. On the condenser side, the bottom copper block
is fitted with copper tubing to re-circulate water from the
blocks to the chiller. The water inlet temperature of the block
is maintained by the refrigerated circulating bath. Thermal
grease is applied to the interface between the heat source and
the copper block, and between the copper blocks and the heat
pipe. A total of fourteen T-type thermocouples are used in this
testing. Two thermocouples are inserted into the PVC tubing
to monitor the water inlet temperature and the water outlet
temperature, and 6 thermocouples on evaporator blocks and
condenser blocks are used to measure the block temperature
and the interface temperature between the block and the heat
pipe. The locations of the thermocouples placement within
the copper blocks are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Thermocouples location on the evaporator and
condenser block.
There are total of 3 different sets of evaporator and
condenser blocks with groove diameters of 4mm, 5mm, and
6mm designed to test different heat pipe diameters. Table 1
lists the test samples specification and the test configuration.
21st IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium
Table 1. Test samples configuration. (horizontal position). At 5 Watts, the 4mm OD mesh, groove
Condenser Total and sintered powder metal heat pipes performances were
Number Evaporator Outer
Length Length Wick almost equal from +90° to +30°.
of Test Length Diameter
(mm) (mm) Structures
Samples (mm) (mm)

Groove, 50.0
Mesh, 47.5
3 55 55 200 6 45.0
Metal 42.5 Mesh

(interface to interface) [°C]

Powder 40.0

Temperature Differential
Groove, 37.5 Groove
35.0
Mesh, 32.5
3 55 55 200 5
Metal 30.0 Metal Pow der
Powder 27.5
25.0
Groove, 22.5
Mesh, 20.0
3 55 55 200 4 17.5
Metal 15.0
Powder 12.5
10.0
3. Test Procedure 7.5
5.0
Each test started at +90°, the vertical position where the 2.5
0.0
evaporator blocks were located at the bottom and the
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
condenser blocks were located on the top. The test run
Angle of Inclination [°]
through a 180° sweep that paused at each of the following
inclination angle: +60°, +30°, 0° (horizontal), -30°, -60° and – Figure 5. Thermal performance of 6mm OD, 200mm Length
90° (the evaporator blocks were on top position and the heat pipes with different wick structures at different
condenser blocks were at the bottom). Initial heat load of 10 inclination angles. Heat load of 10 Watts.
Watts (6mm and 5mm OD) and 5 Watts (4mm OD) were
applied to the evaporator blocks respectively. When the test
at each inclination angle reached steady state for a specified 50.0
47.5
time period, the program instructed the power supply to 45.0
42.5 Mesh
(Interface to Interface) [°C]

increase the heat load in an incremental step of 5 Watts. This 40.0

Temperature Differential

process is repeated until the specified cut-off evaporator 37.5

35.0 Groove
temperature is reached. When that happened, the program 32.5
instructed the stepper motor to lower the heat pipe test setup 30.0 Metal Pow der
27.5
to the next specified inclination angle. This process is 25.0
22.5
repeated until the heat pipe is tested at all specified angles. 20.0
17.5
4. Test Results 15.0
12.5
All the charts presented in this section are plotted as 10.0
Temperature Differential (interface to interface) against Angle 7.5
5.0
of Inclination. The Temperature Differential is defined as the 2.5
0.0
difference in interface temperatures between the evaporator
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
and the condenser. The interface temperature is the
Angle of Inclination [°]
temperature measured at the center groove of the copper
block (shown in Figure 4) that interfaces with the heat pipe Figure 6. Thermal performance of 5mm OD, 200mm Length
test sample. heat pipes with different wick structures at different
4.1. Different Wick Structures inclination angles. Heat load of 10 Watts.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the different wick structure heat
pipes thermal performance at various inclination angles. The
indicated test results are for 6mm, 5mm and 4mm Outer
Diameter, 200mm long heat pipes. The heat load of 10W
was applied to 6mm and 5mm OD heat pipes and 5W to 4mm
OD heat pipe.
As illustrated in the Figures, orientation has less impact on
the sintered powder metal heat pipe compared to the groove
and mesh heat pipes. For 6mm OD, the groove heat pipe has
the best performance from +90° to 0° (horizontal position)
followed by sintered metal powder and mesh.. However, for
5mm heat pipe, the groove wick and sintered metal powder
wick thermal performance were similar from +90° to 0°

21st IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium

 50.0
47.5
45.0 Mesh 50.0
(Interface to Interface) [°C] 42.5
40.0 45.0
Temperature Differential

5W
37.5 Groove

(interface to interface) [°C]

35.0 40.0 10W

Temperature Differential
32.5
30.0 Metal Pow der 35.0 15W
27.5 20W
25.0 30.0
22.5 25W
20.0 25.0
17.5 30W
15.0 20.0
12.5 35W
10.0 15.0
7.5
5.0 10.0
2.5
0.0 5.0
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 0.0
Angle of Inclination [°]
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Angle of Inclination [°]
Figure 7. Thermal performance of 4mm OD, 200mm Length
heat pipes with different wick structures at different Figure 9. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of groove heat pipe at
inclination angles. Heat load of 5 Watts. different inclination angles.

4.2. Increase in Power Intensity

50.0
Figures 8, 9 and 10 show the temperature differential
45.0 5W
between the evaporator and condenser as the heat load
10W
increases for different wick structures. It can be seen that (interface to interface) [°C] 40.0
Temperature Differential

between +90° and +30°, there are slight variations between 35.0 15W
the temperature difference from the evaporator s to the 20W
30.0
condenser as the power increases. At power range of 5W to 25W
10W, the temperature differential across the evaporator 25.0
30W
section and condenser section for metal powder wick 20.0
35W
structure remain flat throughout the 180° sweep. As 15.0
presented in the charts, the groove heat pipe is the best heat
10.0
transporter closely followed by mesh and metal powder wick
structures at inclination angles ranging from +90° to 0° (i.e. 5.0
gravity assisted to horizontal orientation) However, the 0.0
sintered powder metal heat pipe performs significantly better -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
in the gravity opposed orientations (inclination angles from 0 Angle of Inclination [°]
to –90)
Figure 10. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of metal powder heat
pipe at different inclination angles.
50.0
5W 4.2. Increase in Ambient Temperature
45.0
10W Figures 11, 12 and 13 show the temperature
(interface to interface) [°C]

40.0 15W differential from evaporator to condenser at ambient

Temperature Differential

35.0 20W temperature of 35°C, 45°C and 55°C for the metal powder
25W
30.0 30W wick structure heat pipe. It can be seen that as the ambient
35W temperature increases, the temperature differential between
25.0
the evaporator and condenser decreases. This suggests that
20.0 the heat pipe is more efficient in heat transport at higher
15.0 ambient temperature. As shown in the figures, the rise in
10.0 ambient temperature significantly affects the heat transport
capability at higher heat loads.
5.0
0.0
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Angle of Inclination [°]

Figure 8. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of mesh heat pipe at

different inclination angles.

21st IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium

 40.0 40.0

(interface to interface) [°C] 35.0 5W 35.0 5W

(interface to interface) [°C]

10W 10W
Temperature Differential

Temperature Differential
30.0 15W 30.0
15W
25.0 20W 25.0 20W
25W 25W
20.0 30W 20.0 30W
15.0 15.0

10.0 10.0

5.0 5.0

0.0 0.0
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Angle of Inclination [°] Angle of Inclination [°]

Figure 11. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of metal powder heat Figure 13. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of metal powder heat
pipe at ambient of 35°C for different inclination angles. pipe at ambient of 55°C for different inclination angles.

40.0 5. Conclusions
35.0 5W The heat pipes orientation test produced the following:
(interface to interface) [°C]

10W
Temperature Differential

30.0 15W • Heat source orientation and gravity have less

25.0 20W effect on sintered powder metal heat pipes due to
25W the fact that the sintered powder metal wick has
20.0 30W the strongest capillary action
15.0 • It is not desirable to use groove or mesh heat
pipes when the orientation of the evaporator (heat
10.0 source) is on top of the condenser (heat sink)
5.0
• For 6mm OD, the groove heat pipe has better
thermal performance that mesh and sintered
0.0 powder metal in the +90° to 0° range.
-120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120
Angle of Inclination [°]
References
Figure 12. ∆Tint of 6mm OD, 200mm of metal powder heat I. R. S. Reid and M. A. Merrigan, Heat Pipe Activity in the
pipe at ambient of 45°C for different inclination angles. Americas – 1990 to 1995, Los Alamos National
Laboratory, New Mexico, 1997.

II. Suaciuc, M. Mochizuki, K. Mashiko, Y. Saito and T.

Nyugen, The Design and Testing of the Super Fiber Heat
Pipes for Electronics Cooling Applications, Proceedings
of the 16th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, pp. 27-32,
2000.

III. T. Shimura, H. Sho and Y. Nakamura, The Aluminum Flat

Heat Pipe Using Cyclopentane As Working Fluid, ITherm
2002 Proceedings, pp. 224-229, 2002

21st IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium