Correlation to predict heat transfer characteristics of a radially rotating heat pipe at vertical position

Abstract The heat transfer characteristics of a radially rotating heat pipe (RRHP) depend on a number of parameters. This paper is a study of the effects of these parameters. They are the inner diameter of the tube, aspect ratio, rotational acceleration, working fluid and the dimensionless parameters of heat transfer. RRHPs, made of copper tubes with inner diameters of 11, 26, and 50.4 mm, were used in the experiments. The aspect ratios were 5, 10, 20 and 40 respectively. The selected working fluids were water, ethanol and R123 (CHCl2CF3) with a filling ratio of 60% of evaporator volume. The experiments were conducted at inclination angles of 0–90° from horizontal axis and the rotational accelerations were lower, higher and equal to gravitational acceleration. The working temperature was 90 °C. The evaporator section was heated by electric power while heat in the condenser section was removed naturally by air. The evaporator and adiabatic section of the RRHP were well insulated with ceramic fibers. The experimental results showed that the heat flux decreases with an increasing inner diameter, and decreases with an increasing aspect ratio. The heat flux increases with an increasing rotational acceleration and decreases with an increasing liquid density of the working fluid. A correlation to predict the heat transfer rate at vertical position can be established. Further research will investigate a visual study of internal flow pattern and the formulation of a mathematical model.