STUDY OF THE COOLING CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEAT PIPE WORKING ON R-22

Abstract

In the present thesis an experimental investigation on the cooling characteristics of a horizontal heat pipe under different operating conditions has been studied. For this a copper/R-22 heat pipe was designed, fabricated and tested. A copper wire mesh of 200-1 in. mesh number was used as the wick structure in the pipe. The heat pipe was tested over an operating temperature range of 4°C to 15°C and found that the heat pipe was entirely boiling limited over the all operating temperature range tested. The study of steady state temperature profiles along the length of the heat pipe at different fluid quantities, different condenser temperatures and different heat inputs has been done. The temperature drop along the length of the heat pipe was also studied under the same conditions. The steady state experimental results were found to be in good agreement with the predicted values.