Investigating thermal performance of a partly sintered wick heat pipe filled with different working fluids

Heat pipes are important cooling devices which are widely used to transfer heat loads. In this paper thermal performance of a novel type of sintered wick heat pipe, namely, partly sintered wick heat pipe has been investigated. The heat pipe was filled with degassed water and acetone, as working fluids, and effects of filling ratio, orientation and heat inputs were tested. Moreover, conditions at which dry-out occurs were presented. Results showed that the best filling ratio for both working fluids is 20%. The heat pipe filled with water has better thermal performance compared with acetone, so that thermal resistances of the 20% water-filled heat pipe are approximately 7%, 27%, and 75% lower than those of the 20% acetone-filled one in the vertical, horizontal, and vertical reverse modes, respectively. This novel type of sintered wick heat pipe has good thermal performance in the horizontal mode and can be used in no-gravity conditions, i.e. space applications.