Comparative Study on Thermal Performance of Ultrathin Miniature Loop Heat Pipes With Different Internal Wicks

Abstract

Presented here are the results of an experimental investigation of two ultrathin miniature loop heat pipes (mLHPs) with different internal wicking structures: one with a primary wicking structure in the evaporator and a secondary wicking structure in the liquid line, and the other only with the same primary wicking structure in the evaporator, but no secondary wick. The systematic experimental investigation was conducted using natural convection as the cooling mechanism in order to study the heat transfer performance of the two mLHPs and fully examine the effects of the secondary wick. The results indicated that both of the test articles could effectively dissipate 12 W at all test orientations with a minimum total thermal resistances of 6.38 °C/W and 6.39 °C/W, respectively. However, the results indicated that the presence of the secondary wicking structure in the liquid line at low power loads resulted in more stable startup characteristics and a weaker dependence on the different orientations. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the steady-state evaporator temperatures of the test article with the secondary wicking structure in the liquid line were much lower than those observed for a 1-mm thick copper plate with the same geometric dimensions for all heat loads in the horizontal orientation, showing a higher thermal performance.