HEAT PIPES Review, Opportunities and Challenges

Frontiers in Heat Pipes (FHP), 5, 1 (2014)
DOI: 10.5098/fhp.5.1
Global Digital Central

ISSN: 2155-658X
Frontiers in Heat Pipes

Available at www.HeatPipeCentral.org
HEAT PIPES: REVIEW, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Amir Faghri *
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
A detailed overview of heat pipes is presented in this paper, including a historical perspective, principles of operations, types of heat pipes, heat pipe
performance characteristics, heat pipe limitations, heat pipe frozen startup and shutdown, heat pipe analysis and simulations, and various applications
of heat pipes. Over the last several decades, several factors have contributed to a major transformation in heat pipe science and technology . The first
major contribution was the development and advances of new heat pipes, such as loop heat pipes, micro and miniature heat pipes, and pulsating heat
pipes. In addition, there are now many new commercial applications that have helped contribute to the recent interest in heat pipes, especially related
to the fields of electronic cooling and energy. For example, several million heat pipes are now manufactured each month since all modern laptops use
heat pipes for CPU cooling. Numerical modeling, analysis, and experimental simulation of heat pipes have also significantly progressed due to a
much greater understanding of various physical phenomena in heat pipes, as well as advances in computational and experimental methodologies.
Keywords: heat pipes, performance characteristics, types of heat pipes, numerical modeling, heat pipe applications
1.
Section 2: Historical Development of Heat Pipes

Section 3: Principles of Operations
Section 4: Types of Heat Pipes
Section 5: Working Fluids and Temperature Ranges
Section 6: Capillary Wick Designs and Structures
Section 7: Heat Transfer Limitations
Section 8: Heat pipe Start Up
Section 9: Heat Pipe Characteristics
Section 10: Heat Pipe Analysis and Simulation
Section 11: Heat Pipe Applications
Section 12: Conclusions
INTRODUCTION
The heat pipe (Faghri, 1995) is a highly effective passive device for
transmitting heat at high rates over considerable distances with
extremely small temperature drops, exceptional flexibility, simple
construction, and easy control with no external pumping power.
Engineers, scientists and graduate students interested in heat pipe
science often times struggle and spend considerable time poring
through archival publications or the contents of heat pipe books in
order to understand and predict a heat pipe system. Being aware of this
situation, this review is a self-contained document of the state-of-the-art
heat pipe science and technology. The physical significance and
performance characteristics, as well as the technological and
experimental issues related to this technology are covered in this
review. The purpose of this review article is also to make a thorough
presentation of the basic and advanced techniques for analyzing various
heat pipe systems under a variety of operating conditions and
limitations.
The subject of heat pipe science has immense importance in a
large variety of traditional engineering disciplines. The sub-discipline
of heat pipe science has its foundation in several classical fields, such
as fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics and solid mechanics.
Heat pipe science also provides an opportunity for scientists and
engineers to apply a variety of complex physical phenomena and
fundamental laws in the thermal-fluids area to a relatively simple
system, such as the heat pipe. This includes the steady and unsteady
forced laminar and turbulent convective heat and mass transfer,
compressible vapor effects, phase-change phenomena, boiling,
condensation/evaporation, two-phase flow, rotating flows, thin film
flows, liquid flow in porous media, rarefied gases, interfacial heat and
mass transfer, magneto-hydrodynamic flows, and conjugate heat
transfer effects.
This review provides detailed information about the following
topics related to heat pipe science and technology:
2.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HEAT PIPES
Of the many different types of systems which transport heat, the heat
pipe (Faghri, 1995) is one of the most efficient systems known today.
The advantage of using a heat pipe over other conventional methods is
that large quantities of heat can be transported through a small crosssectional area over a considerable distance with no additional power
input to the system. Furthermore, design and manufacturing simplicity,
small end-to-end temperature drops, and the ability to control and
transport high heat rates at various temperature levels are all unique
features of heat pipes.
The predecessor of the heat pipe, the Perkins tube, was introduced
by the Perkins family from the mid-nineteenth to the twentieth century
through a series of patents in the United Kingdom. Most of the Perkins
tubes were wickless gravity-assisted heat pipes (thermosyphons), in
which heat transfer was achieved by a change of phase (latent heat of
evaporation). The Perkins tube design closest to the present heat pipe
was patented by Jacob Perkins (1836). This design was a closed tube
containing a small quantity of water operating as a two-phase cycle.
The introduction of the heat pipe was first conceived by Gaugler
(1944) of the General Motors Corporation in the U.S. Patent No.
2350348. Gaugler, who was working on refrigeration problems at that
time, envisioned a device which would evaporate a liquid at a point
above the place where condensation would occur without requiring any
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DOI: 10.5098/fhp.5.1

ISSN: 2155-658X
four decades. A significant amount of basic and applied research &

development has been performed since 1985 in the area of heat pipes
due to the great potential use of this technology for various
applications.
additional work to move the liquid to the higher elevation. His device
consisted of a closed tube in which the liquid would absorb heat at one
location causing the liquid to evaporate. The vapor would then travel
down the length of the tube, where it would recondense and release its
latent heat. It would then travel back up the tube via capillary pressure
to start the process over. In order to move the liquid back up to a higher
point, Gaugler suggested the use of a capillary structure consisting of a
sintered iron wick. A refrigeration unit proposed by Gaugler used a heat
pipe to transfer the heat from the interior of a compartment to a pan of
crushed ice below. His idea, however, was not used by General Motors
for the refrigeration problem.
In 1962, Trefethen (1962) resurrected the idea of a heat pipe in
connection with the space program. Serious development started in
1964 when the heat pipe was independently reinvented and a patent
application was filed by Grover at Los Alamos National Laboratory in
New Mexico. Grover et al. (1964) and Grover (1966) built several
prototype heat pipes, the first of which used water as a working fluid,
and was soon followed by a sodium heat pipe which operated at 1100
K. Grover and his co-workers also demonstrated the effectiveness of
heat pipes as a high performance heat transmission device and proposed
several applications for their use. In a U.S. patent application filed by
Grover on behalf of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Grover
(1966) coined the phrase heat pipe and described a device almost
exactly the same as Gauglers, stating, with certain limitations on the
manner of use, a heat pipe may be regarded as a synergistic engineering
structure which is equivalent to a material having a thermal
conductivity greatly exceeding that of any known metal. In the patent
application, Grover (1966) gave a very limited theoretical analysis of
heat pipes, but presented experimental results obtained from stainless
steel heat pipes that incorporated a screen wick with sodium, silver and
lithium as working fluids.
The recognition of the heat pipe as a reliable thermal device was
initially due to the preliminary theoretical results and design tools that
were reported in the first publication on heat pipe analysis by Cotter
(1965). Following this publication, research began worldwide. The
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Laboratory at Harwell started
experimenting with sodium heat pipes to use as thermionic diode
converters. In addition, scientists started conducting similar work at the
Joint Nuclear Research Center in Ispra, Italy, which soon became the
most active research center outside the U.S. Shortly thereafter, other
countries such as Germany, France, and the former USSR initiated
efforts in this regard.
The early development of terrestrial applications of heat pipes
proceeded at a slow pace. Due to capillary action, heat pipes can
operate in microgravitational fields without any external force field or
pump. Because of this, most early efforts were directed toward space
applications. However, due to the high cost of energy, especially in
Japan and Europe, the industrial community began to appreciate the
significance of heat pipes and thermosyphons in energy savings
applications. Today, all developed countries have been actively
involved in research, development, and commercialization of heat
pipes.
Within the last decade, a major transformation regarding heat pipe
technology and application has occurred due to the critical need of
electronic cooling and energy systems, as well as the invention of new
heat pipes. Several million heat pipes per month are now being
manufactured since all modern laptop computers use heat pipe
technology to transfer heat away from the processor. Furthermore,
research and development for new heat pipes such as loop heat pipes,
micro and miniature heat pipes, and pulsating heat pipes, has matured
enough for use in various applications.
There is a wealth of published literature: several heat pipe books
and monographs, as well as the proceedings of eleven international heat
pipe symposiums and seventeen international heat pipe conferences. In
addition, there are a large number of archival and non-archival
publications and reports related to heat pipes, dating back over the last
Container
Evaporator
end cap
Vapor flow
Liquid flow
Direction
of gravity
Condenser
end cap
Fig. 1 Schematic of a conventional heat pipe showing the principle of

operation and circulation of the working fluid.
3.
PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
The operation of a heat pipe (Faghri, 1995) is easily understood by

using a cylindrical geometry, as shown in Fig. 1. However, heat pipes
can be of any size or shape. The components of a heat pipe are a sealed
container (pipe wall and end caps), a wick structure, and a small
amount of working fluid which is in equilibrium with its own vapor.
Different types of working fluids such as water, acetone, methanol,
ammonia or sodium can be used in heat pipes based on the required
operating temperature. The length of a heat pipe is divided into three
parts: the evaporator section, adiabatic (transport) section and
condenser section. A heat pipe may have multiple heat sources or sinks
with or without adiabatic sections depending on specific applications
and design. Heat applied externally to the evaporator section is
conducted through the pipe wall and wick structure, where it vaporizes
the working fluid. The resulting vapor pressure drives the vapor
through the adiabatic section to the condenser, where the vapor
condenses, releasing its latent heat of vaporization to the provided heat
sink. The capillary pressure created by the menisci in the wick pumps
the condensed fluid back to the evaporator section. Therefore, the heat
pipe can continuously transport the latent heat of vaporization from the
evaporator to the condenser section. This process will continue as long
as there is a sufficient capillary pressure to drive the condensate back to
the evaporator.
The menisci at the liquid-vapor interface are highly curved in the
evaporator section due to the fact that the liquid recedes into the pores
of the wick. On the other hand, during the condensation process, the
menisci in the condenser section are nearly flat. A capillary pressure
exists at the liquid-vapor interface due to the surface tension of the
working fluid and the curved structure of the interface. The difference
in the curvature of the menisci along the liquid-vapor interface causes
the capillary pressure to change along the pipe. This capillary pressure
gradient circulates the fluid against the liquid and vapor pressure losses,
and adverse body forces such as gravity or acceleration.
The vapor pressure changes along the heat pipe are due (Faghri,
1995) to friction, inertia and blowing (evaporation) and suction
(condensation) effects, while the liquid pressure changes mainly as a
result of friction. The liquid-vapor interface is flat near the condenser
end cap corresponding to a zero local pressure gradient at very low
vapor flow rates. A typical axial variation of the shape of the liquidvapor interface and the liquid and vapor pressures for low vapor flow
rates are shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b), respectively.
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Heat source

ISSN: 2155-658X
Heat sink
Heat sink
Pressure
Heat source
Fig. 2 Axial variation of the liquid-vapor interface, and the vapor and
liquid pressures along the heat pipe at low vapor flow rates.
b) Vapor and liquid pressure distributions
Heat source
liquid pressures along the heat pipe at high vapor flow rates.
Heat sink
The local liquid-vapor pressure difference is small, but this

pressure gradient approaches zero at the condenser end cap similar to
the low vapor flow rate case. Again, the capillary pressure difference at
the evaporator end cap should be balanced by the sum of the total
pressure drop in the vapor and liquid across the heat pipe.
The general trend at high vapor flow rates with low liquid pressure
drops is different from the other two cases. The vapor pressure drop can
exceed the liquid pressure drop in the condenser section. In such a case,
the liquid pressure would be higher than the vapor pressure in the
condenser section if the pressure in the liquid and vapor are equal at the
condenser end cap. In reality, the wet point is not situated at the
condenser end cap as shown in 4(b), and the menisci at the liquid-vapor
interface in the condenser are curved.
Traditionally, heat pipe theory consists of fundamental analyses
related to hydrodynamic and heat transfer processes. Fluid mechanics
theory is generally used to describe the axial liquid pressure drop in the
wick structure, the maximum capillary pumping head and the vapor
flow in the vapor channel. Heat transfer theory is used to model the
transfer of heat into and out of the heat pipe. Phenomena such as
conjugate heat conduction in the wall and wick, evaporation and
condensation at the liquid-vapor interface, and forced convection in the
vapor channel and wick structure are described. The various thermal
resistances or elements in a conventional heat pipe are shown in Fig. 5.
The thermal processes such as solidification and liquefaction, and those
related to rarefied gases can play important roles in modeling transient
heat pipe operation during startup from the frozen state.
Fundamentally, one expects to analyze the internal thermal
processes of a heat pipe as a thermodynamic cycle subject to the first
and second laws of thermodynamics (Zuo and Faghri, 1998; Khalkhali
et al., 1999). Zuo and Faghri (1998) predicted the transient heat pipe
performance by using a simple thermal resistance model similar to that
of Fig 5. However, classical heat pipe theory does not consider a
thermodynamic approach. The idealized cycle is shown in Fig. 6(a). A
quantity of heat, Qin, is applied to the heat pipe system at an average
evaporator temperature, Te. Under steady operation, the same quantity
liquid pressures along the heat pipe at moderate vapor flow rates.
The maximum local pressure difference occurs near the evaporator
end cap. This maximum local capillary pressure should be equal to the
sum of the pressure drops in the vapor and the liquid across the heat
pipe in the absence of body forces. When body forces are present, such
as an adverse gravitational force, the liquid pressure drop is greater,
indicating that the capillary pressure must be higher in order to return
the liquid to the evaporator for a given heat input. At moderate vapor
flow rates, dynamic effects cause the vapor pressure drop and recovery
along the condenser section, as shown in Fig. 3(b).
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this would violate the second law of thermodynamics. The capability of

the simple thermodynamic analysis is very limited. In most cases, the
heat transfer and fluid mechanics methodologies are needed to solve a
heat pipe problem, especially when a quantitative solution is required.
of heat is rejected at a lower average condenser temperature Tc. Work is

produced inside the heat pipe, but is then completely used in
overcoming the hydrodynamic losses of the system. The thermal energy
is converted to mechanical energy due to phase change at the liquidvapor interface by producing a pressure head.
4.
TYPES OF HEAT PIPES
Heat pipes have been designed and built with various crosssectional areas as small as 30 m width 80 m depth and 19.75 mm
in length (micro heat pipes), and heat pipes as large as 100 m in length.
All heat pipes have an evaporator and condenser section where the
working fluid evaporates and condenses, respectively. Many heat pipes
also have a transport or adiabatic section which separates the
evaporator and condenser sections by an appropriate distance, intended
to satisfy the heat pipe limitations and/or the design constraints of the
application. A given heat pipe may have multiple evaporators,
condensers and adiabatic sections. The working fluid is usually
circulated by capillary forces in a wick. However, gravitational,
centrifugal, electrostatic, and osmotic forces can also be used to return
the liquid from the condenser to the evaporator.
For simplicity of design and manufacturing, heat pipe containers
are generally circular cylinders. Other shapes, however, such as
rectangular (flat heat pipes), conical (rotating heat pipes), corrugated
flexible heat pipes, and nosecap (leading edge heat pipes) geometries
have been studied.
Fig. 5 Thermal resistance model of a typical heat pipe.
Two-Phase Closed Thermosyphon
Liquid flow
Fig. 6 Thermodynamic cycle of a typical heat pipe.

r
The thermodynamic cycle of the heat pipe is shown in Fig. 6(b)

(Khalkhali et al., 1999). The fluid enters the evaporator as a
compressed liquid at temperature T1 and leaves at temperature T2 or
T2 as saturated or superheated vapor, respectively. The vapor flows
through the vapor channel from the evaporator to condenser due to the
vapor pressure differential in the evaporator and condenser sections (23, or 2-2-3). The vapor enters the condenser section as a saturated
vapor or mixture. The condensate enters the adiabatic section as a
saturated liquid (4). Finally, the liquid leaves the adiabatic section to
enter the evaporator as a compressed liquid to complete the cycle. The
work done on the working fluid during its circulation through the heat
pipe is the area enclosed by the temperature versus entropy diagram
shown in Fig. 6(b). As expected from the second law of
thermodynamics, the conversion of thermal energy to kinetic energy is
associated with heat rejection at a temperature below the high
temperature reservoir in the system with efficiency less than 100%. It
should be noted that in most heat pipes, the end-to-end temperature
difference is small compared to other conductive systems. Nevertheless,
the most ideal heat pipe can never be completely isothermal because
Fig. 7 Gravity-assisted wickless heat pipe (two-phase closed

thermosyphon).
A two-phase closed thermosyphon (Faghri, 1995) is a gravityassisted wickless heat pipe (Fig. 7) (Faghri et al., 1989a). The
condenser section is located above the evaporator so that the
condensate is returned by gravity. The sonic and vapor pressure limits
are constraints to the operation of the thermosyphon as with capillarydriven heat pipes. The entrainment limit is more profound in the
thermosyphon than in capillary-driven heat pipes due to the free liquid
surface. The counterpart of the entrainment limit in thermosyphons is
called flooding (Faghri et al., 1989a), which is the most severe
limitation in the operation of these systems. A sudden oscillating wall
temperature and vapor pressure rise will occur at the flooding limit. The
boiling limit in thermosyphons is due to film boiling, rather than
nucleate boiling as in capillary-driven heat pipes. The boiling limit in
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without increasing the outer diameter of the pipe. Therefore, the

capillary limit of the annular heat pipe is greater than that of a
conventional heat pipe having the same outer dimensions. The annular
heat pipe has been used as an isothermal furnace, with excellent results
due to its temperature flattening capabilities and fast response time to a
cold charge. This type of heat pipe can also be used to connect two
circular cross-section heat pipes end-to-end by inserting the circular
heat pipe into the inner pipe.
thermosyphons occurs when a vapor film forms between the pipe wall
and the liquid in the evaporator section of the heat pipe. For small
liquid fill volumes, the dryout limit may be reached, where all of the
working fluid is held in the liquid film, and no liquid pool exists. In this
case, any further increase in the input heat will cause a severe
temperature increase at the bottom of the evaporator section.
The operation of the thermosyphon is sensitive to the working
fluid fill volume. For thermosyphons without wicks, it has been shown
experimentally that the maximum rate of heat transfer increases with the
amount of the working fluid up to a certain value. A wick structure is
sometimes included in the design of thermosyphons to postpone
flooding and improve the contact between the wall and the liquid. The
capillary limit is generally of no concern in the operation of the
thermosyphon due to the fact that gravity is the major driving force for
condensate return.
Capillary-Driven Heat Pipe

The capillary-driven heat pipe (conventional heat pipes) consists of a
sealed container, in which a wick is placed on the inner radius of the
pipe wall (Fig. 8). The purpose of the wick is to provide a capillarydriven pump for returning the condensate to the evaporator section.
Enough working fluid is placed inside the sealed pipe to saturate the
wick with liquid. The operation of the capillary-driven heat pipe is as
follows. Heat input to the evaporator section evaporates the liquid in
the wick. The vapor then enters the vapor space and travels to the
condenser section due to the higher vapor pressure in the evaporator.
Heat removal from the condenser causes the vapor to condense,
releasing its latent heat of vaporization. The condensate is then pumped
back to the evaporator section by the capillary force generated at the
liquid-vapor interfaces of the pores in the wick. Due to the two-phase
nature of the capillary heat pipe, it is ideal for transferring heat over
long distances with a very small temperature drop, and for creating a
nearly isothermal surface for temperature stabilization. Generally, the
most commonly encountered limitation to the performance of a
capillary-driven heat pipe is the capillary limit. This occurs when the
wick cannot return enough liquid to the evaporator section to keep it
saturated. At this point, the evaporator wall experiences a sudden,
continuous increase in temperature. Conventional capillary heat pipes
are used in almost all laptop/notebook computers nowadays to channel
heat away from the processors. The capillary heat pipe has also been
widely applied to various commercial and aerospace applications.
Fig. 9 Conventional and concentric annular heat pipe design: (a)

conventional; (b) concentric annular.
Vapor Chamber
Heat input
Liquid
flow
Evaporator section
r
Container
Optional
block of wick
material
Fig. 10 Vapor chamber.

The vapor chamber is a capillary-driven planar (flat-plate heat pipe
in a rectangular or disk-shaped) with a small aspect ratio (Faghri, 1995;
Mochizuki et al., 2006; Mochizuki et al., 2007; Xiao and Faghri,
2008), as shown in Fig. 10. Additional wick blocks between the
evaporator and condenser aid in condensate return, especially when the
condenser is below the evaporator in a gravity field. If the condenser is
above the evaporator, there is no need to have a wick in the condenser
section, since the condensate on the upper plate will drip back to the
evaporator. A wick is needed over the evaporator section, however, in
order to uniformly distribute the liquid over the entire surface so to
prevent dryout. The vapor chamber is an excellent candidate for use in
electronic cooling applications especially with high heat flux
applications, including desktops and servers. Vapor chambers are
preferred over conventional heat pipes (CHP) for electronic cooling
with heat fluxes higher than 50 W/cm, since heat flow is two or three
dimensional, compared to one dimensional in CHPs. Furthermore,
Fig. 8 Conventional capillary-driven heat pipe.
Annular Heat Pipe

The annular heat pipe is similar to the conventional capillary-driven
heat pipe in many ways. The main difference between the two is that
the cross-section of the vapor space in an annular heat pipe is annular
instead of circular (Fig. 9) (Faghri and Thomas, 1989; Faghri, 1989).
This enables the designer to place wick material both on the inside of
the outer pipe and on the outside of the inner pipe. In this manner, the
surface area for heat input and output can be significantly increased
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previously mentioned for an isothermal furnace and for electronic

cooling.
vapor chambers can be placed in direct contact with CPUs using

thermal interface materials, thereby reducing the overall thermal
resistance of heat sinks.
Rotating Heat Pipe

Rotating heat pipes can be designed in two configurations (Gray, 1969;
Faghri, 1995). First, the heat pipe can be in the shape of a circular
cylinder with or without an axial taper, which rotates either about its
own axis of symmetry or revolves off-axis. Secondly, the heat pipe can
be manufactured in the shape of a disk, where two parallel disks are
joined together at the outer and inner radii to form the vapor space (Fig.
11). Cylindrical rotating heat pipes operate in the same manner as
conventional cylindrical heat pipes except that internal tapers are
commonly used to aid in returning the condensate to the evaporator by
centrifugal force. With disk-shaped heat pipes, heat is input at the outer
radii and extracted at the inner radii, which allows the condensate to be
driven back to the evaporator by centrifugal force with the aid of an
internal taper. Therefore, capillary wicks are not used in rotating heat
pipes. Cylindrical rotating heat pipes have been used to cool the
rotating parts of electric motors and metal-cutting tools such as drill bits
and end mills. Disk-shaped heat pipes have been proposed to
effectively cool turbine components and automobile brakes.
Liquid flow
Fig. 12 Operation of a gas-loaded variable conductance heat pipe.
Loop Heat Pipe

Axis of
rotation
Heat sink
Fig. 11 Rotating heat pipe (radial flow).
Gas-Loaded Heat Pipe

Gas-loaded heat pipes are one type of variable conductance heat pipes.
The gas-loaded heat pipe, shown in Fig. 12, is the same as the capillarydriven heat pipe or the two-phase thermosyphon except that a
noncondensing gas is introduced into the vapor space. During
operation, this gas is swept down the length of the heat pipe by the
working fluid vapor to the condenser section. Since condensation of the
working fluid does not take place where the noncondensing gas is
present, a portion of the condenser is blocked from transferring heat to
the heat sink (Fig. 12(a)). If the heat input to the evaporator section is
increased, the vapor and gas temperatures both increase, which leads to
the compression of the inert gas. This in turn increases the amount of
condenser surface area available to transfer heat (Fig. 12(b)). This
phenomenon results in the gas-loaded heat pipe being able to maintain
a nearly constant evaporator temperature regardless of the heat input.
Gas-loaded heat pipes have been used in the annular arrangement
Fig. 13 Loop heat pipe (LHP).

The loop heat pipe (LHP) (Faghri, 1995; Maydanik, 2005) was
invented in Russia in 1971 by Gerasimov and Maydanik (Maydanik et
al., 1991). The LHP is based on the same physical processes
(evaporation and condensation) as those of conventional heat pipes.
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Evaporator
component
The LHP in its simplest form (Fig. 13) consists of a capillary pump (or
evaporator), a compensation chamber (or reservoir), a condenser, and
liquid and vapor lines. The wicks are only present in the evaporator and
compensation chamber. The high capillary force is created in the
evaporator due to fine-pored wicks (primary wicks) such as sintered
nickel, titanium and copper powder with an effective pore radius of 0.715m and a porosity of 55-75%. The compensation chamber is an
important component in the LHP and is often an integral part of the
evaporator. The purpose of the compensation chamber is to
accommodate excess liquid in an LHP during normal operation. A
secondary wick (usually made of larger pores) physically connects the
evaporator to the compensation chamber in order to supply the primary
wick with liquid, particularly when the compensation chamber is below
the evaporator, or when the LHP is operating in microgravity
conditions. The motion of vapor and liquid flow in the primary wick
proceeds mainly in a radial direction. The evaporator meniscus is
inverted down toward the wall being heated. Both the liquid and vapor
lines are made of small diameter tubing with no wicks. LHPs can be
made flexible and bendable. LHPs provide heat removal over long
distances without sensitivity to gravity. Several factors make the LHP
an attractive option for spacecraft cooling over conventional heat pipes.
Since the wick structure is only in the evaporator, the rest of the
container walls can be smooth, which reduces pressure drops in the
vapor and liquid flows. The pressure drops throughout the system are
also reduced because the vapor and liquid flow are co-current, as
opposed to the counter-current flow in conventional heat pipes. For
these reasons, the LHP is a more effective thermal bus, and the heat
source and sink can be separated by a longer distance than with
conventional heat pipes.
Condenser
Fig. 14 Capillary pumped looped heat pipe (CPL).
Capillary Pumped Loop Heat Pipe

Spacecraft and electronic systems require heat rejection systems which
can remove quantities of heat on the order of 10 to 100 times that which
present single-phase systems can reject. Another special type of heat
pipe has been proposed and extensively tested for this purpose, the
capillary pumped loop (CPL) (Faghri, 1995). The CPL was first
proposed by Stenger (1966) at the NASA Lewis Research Center. A
basic schematic of the CPL is given in Fig. 14. Heat is applied to the
evaporator component, which consists of a hollow rod of wick material
capped at one end and force fitted into an internally axially-grooved
pipe. The heat applied to the outer surface of the evaporator vaporizes
the liquid working fluid, which then travels down the length of the
axially-grooved vapor channels and into the vapor header. The vapor
travels to the condenser, where it is condensed first as a film on the
inner wall of the pipe, and then as a liquid slug flow. Before reaching
the evaporator, the liquid passes through a subcooler to collapse any
remaining vapor bubbles as well as to provide additional subcooling if
necessary. The capillary pressure generated in the wick structure
continuously pumps the working fluid through the cycle. A two-phase
reservoir is provided to control both the working fluid through the cycle
and the working temperature of the system, which is similar in function
to the variable conductance heat pipe. For multiple evaporator systems,
isolators are provided to prevent the depriming of one evaporator from
depriming the other evaporators. Despite the wide use of the CPL and
LHP in space technology, fundamental confusion still exists regarding
their similarities and distinctions in operation, as well as the limitations
of these two devices.
Fig. 15 Pulsating heat pipe (a) unlooped, (b) looped.

A PHP is usually partially charged with a working fluid, with a
charge ratio between 40% and 60%. Since the diameter of a PHP is
very small (less than 5mm), vapor plugs and liquid slugs are formed as
a result of capillary action. Heat input either causes evaporation or
boiling, which increases the pressure of the vapor plug in the heating
section. Simultaneously, the pressure in the cooling section decreases
due to condensation. This pressure difference pushes the liquid slug and
vapor plug into the cooling section. The liquid slug and vapor plug in
the cooling section are then pushed into the next heating section, which
will push the liquid slug and vapor plug back to the cooling section.
This process enables the self-excited oscillatory motion of liquid slugs
and vapor plugs. Heat is transported from the heating section to the
cooling section via the pulsation of the working fluid in the axial
direction of the tube.
The unique feature of PHPs, compared to conventional heat pipes,
is that there is no wick structure returning the condensate to the heating
section. There is therefore no countercurrent flow between the liquid
and vapor. The entrainment limit in the conventional heat pipe does not
have any effect on the capacity of heat transport by a PHP. With this
simple structure, the PHP weighs less than a conventional heat pipe,
making it an ideal candidate for space applications. Since the diameter
of the PHP is very small, surface tension plays a greater role in the
Pulsating Heat Pipe

The pulsating heat pipe (PHP) (Faghri, 1995) is made from a long
capillary tube bent into many turns, with the evaporator and condenser
sections located at these turns. There are two main types of PHPs-looped and unlooped (Fig. 15)which are classified according to
whether or not the two ends of the PHP connect.
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These types of micro heat pipes are generally placed in an array of

parallel micro heat pipes on the substrate surface in order to increase
the overall heat transfer area. Miniature heat pipes can be designed
based on micro axially grooved structure (1D capillary structure),
meshes or cross grooves (2D capillary structure).
Attempts have been made to etch micro heat pipes directly into the
silicon and use them as thermal spreaders (Peterson and Ma, 1999; Le
Berre et al., 2003; Launay et al., 2004a). The performance
characteristics of the micro heat pipes are different from those
conventional heat pipes (Khrustalev and Faghri, 1994; Launay et al.,
2004a).
dynamics of the PHP than gravitational force does, enabling successful

operation in a microgravity environment. Other applications of PHPs
include thermal control of electrical and electronic devices and
components, as well as thyristors, diodes and ceramic resistors. Zhang
and Faghri (2008) made a comprehensive review related to existing
experimental and theoretical research in pulsating heat pipes.
Monogroove Heat Pipe

The monogroove heat pipe developed by Grumman utilizes an extruded
cross section which separates the vapor space from the liquid return
path (Fig. 16) (Alario et al., 1981; Alario, 1984). Heat input and output
are through the flat face on top of the vapor space. Since heat is not
conducted through the wall of the liquid return path, the chance of
arterial blockage due to vapor bubbles is significantly reduced. Wick
structures are placed along the interior walls to deliver condensate from
the artery to the evaporator. Monogroove heat pipes are proposed to be
used for multi-kilowatt space radiator heat rejections systems.
Heat
input
Fig. 17 Schematic of the micro heat pipe

In order for the micro heat pipe to find more commercial
applications in microelectric cooling, it must compete with other
cooling methods, such as forced convection, impingement and two
phase direct cooling in areas such as manufacturing cost and reliability.
Because of the extremely small dimensions of micro heat pipes,
difficulties in manufacturing and the subsequent degassing and
charging are expected. Furthermore, the true micro heat pipe built
directly into the silicon must compete with the miniature heat pipe
attached on the chip surface in this area, which is much less costly.
Condensate flow
Artery
Fig. 16 Monogroove heat pipe.
Micro and Miniature Heat Pipes
Miniature heat pipes with micro axial grooves can be successfully

used in electronic components cooling systems. Fabrication and
experimental data on the performance characteristics of the flat watercopper heat pipe with external dimensions 2x7x120 mm have been
reported by Hopkins et al. (1999) with radial heat fluxes of 90 W/cm2
and 150 W/cm2 for horizontal and vertical applications, respectively.
Cotter (1984) was the first to propose the micro heat pipe concept for
cooling of electronic devices. The micro heat pipe was defined as a heat
pipe in which the mean curvature of the liquid vapor interface is
comparable in magnitude to the reciprocal of the hydraulic radius of the
total flow channel. Typically, micro heat pipes (Fig. 17) have convex
but cusped cross sections (Peterson, 1992) (for example, a polygon),
with hydraulic diameter in range of 10 to 500 m (Cao and Faghri,
1994a). Miniature heat pipe is defined as a heat pipe with a hydraulic
diameter in the range of 0.5 to 5 mm (Hopkins et al., 1999).
References to micro and miniature heat pipes in open literature are
sometimes not properly differentiated as defined above. For example,
miniature heat pipes with micro grooves are sometimes improperly
referred to as micro heat pipes. It is also worth noting the other
structural differences between micro and miniature heat pipes in
addition to the size ranges noted above. A true micro heat pipe, for both
metallic and silicon applications, has a single non-circular channel for
both liquid and vapor phases where the liquid return from condenser to
evaporator by capillary force occurs in the sharp corner of the channel.
Inverted Meniscus Heat Pipe

Advanced miniature heat pipes are needed to meet the demand for
dissipating high heat fluxes (over 100 W/cm2) for electronic
components. Several techniques were proposed in this regard, including
ivadizing (Khrustalev and Faghri, 1996a), which is the deposit of a
porous structure on the top of the lands between the grooves or
inverted meniscus scheme (Khrustalev and Faghri, 1995c; Khrustalev
and Faghri, 1996b).
With extremely high heat fluxes, a vapor blanket appears inside
the uniform structure in the evaporator along the heated solid surface
(Khrustalev and Faghri, 1996b), as shown in Figs. 18(a) and 18(b). In
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this case, evaporation takes place in the dry region of the porous
structure at the liquid-vapor interface, the location of which shifts
depending on the operational conditions. The heat is conducted to this
interface from the heated surface through the dry region of the porous
element, and the vapor flows mainly along the solid surface through
this porous region towards the triangular vapor channel. The vapor flow
is provided by the capillary pressure gradient due to the difference in
the curvature of the menisci along the liquid-vapor interface inside the
porous structure. Therefore, with high heat fluxes, part of the capillary
pressure is spent on the compensation of the pressure drop in the vapor
flow through the dry porous region. Hence, the maximum heat flux for
this configuration should be calculated with respect to the formation of
this vapor blanket and can be less than that estimated from the
traditional capillary limit. Numerical results show that miniature copper
water heat pipes with an inverted meniscus type evaporator of estimated
dimensions of 2x7x120 mm is capable of withstanding high heat fluxes
on the evaporator wall, which can be about 200 W/cm2 for horizontal
orientation at 120C (Khrustalev and Faghri, 1996b).
Fig. 19 Conceptual design of a leading edge heat pipe.

The leading edge heat pipe has been proposed to cool the leading
edges of future hypersonic aircraft and reentry vehicles (Fig. 19) (Cao
and Faghri, 1991). The heat pipe will cover the leading edges of the
wings and engine nacelles, where the aerodynamic heating is the most
intense. The heat will be absorbed and transported through the heat
pipe to the condenser, where it will be rejected by radiation and/or
convection. The extremely high heat fluxes and temperatures which will
be experienced by the proposed leading edge heat pipe will make its
design and manufacturing one of the most challenging design problems
faced by heat pipe engineers to date.
Fig. 20 A sketch of the heat pipe turbine vane: (a) heat pipe turbine
vane cooling; (b) representative vane cross section.
Fig. 18 Schematic of an inverted meniscus type evaporator with the

triangular fin: (a) with low heat fluxes; (b) with high heat fluxes.
Nonconventional Heat Pipes
5.
While the majority of heat pipes have a cylindrical or rectangular cross

section, specific applications require the use of heat pipes with other
geometries. Examples include heat pipe cross sections with polygonal
shapes, such as micro/miniature heat pipes, or cross sections that vary
along the length of the heat pipe. An example of this latter type of cross
section is shown in Fig. 19, where nosecap and leading edge heat pipes
are shown schematically. Another example that standard coordinate
systems, such as Cartesian or cylindrical coordinates, are not applicable
is heat pipe turbine vane cooling (Zuo et al., 1998) as shown in Fig. 20.
WORKING FLUIDS AND TEMPERATURE RANGES
Each heat pipe application has a particular temperature range in which

the heat pipe needs to operate. Therefore, the design of the heat pipe
must account for the intended temperature range by specifying the
proper working fluid. Table 1 (Faghri, 1995) lists some of the
commonly used and proposed working fluids, their melting and boiling
points at atmospheric pressure, and their useful ranges. As a rule of
thumb, the useful range extends from the point where the saturation
pressure is greater than 0.1 atm and less than 20 atm. Below 0.1 atm,
the vapor pressure limit may be approached. Above 20 atm, the
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Table 1 Working fluids and temperature ranges of heat pipes

Working Fluid
Melting Point,
K at 1 atm
Boiling Point,
K at 1 atm
Useful
Range, K
Helium
1.0
4.21
2-4
Hydrogen
13.8
20.38
14-31
Neon
24.4
27.09
27-37
Nitrogen
63.1
77.35
70-103
Argon
83.9
87.29
84-116
Oxygen
54.7
90.18
73-119
Methane
90.6
111.4
91-150
Krypton
115.8
119.7
116-160
Ethane
89.9
184.6
150-240
Freon 22
113.1
232.2
193-297
Ammonia
195.5
239.9
213-373
Freon 21
138.1
282.0
233-360
Freon 11
162.1
296.8
233-393
Pentane
143.1
309.2
253-393
Freon 113
236.5
320.8
263-373
Acetone
180.0
329.4
273-393
Methanol
175.1
337.8
283-403
Flutec PP2
223.1
349.1
283-433
Ethanol
158.7
351.5
273-403
Heptane
182.5
371.5
273-423
Water
273.1
373.1
303-550
Toluene
178.1
383.7
323-473
Flutec PP9
203.1
433.1
273-498
Naphthalene
353.4
490
408-623
Dowtherm
285.1
527.0
423-668
Mercury
234.2
630.1
523-923
Sulphur
385.9
717.8
530-947
Cesium
301.6
943.0
723-1173
Rubidium
312.7
959.2
800-1275
Potassium
336.4
1032
773-1273
Sodium
371.0
1151
873-1473
Lithium
453.7
1615
1273-2073
Calcium
1112
1762
1400-2100
Lead
600.6
2013
1670-2200
Indium
429.7
2353
2000-3000
Silver
1234
2485
2073-2573
Fig. 21 Operating temperature ranges of various working fluids on a

logarithmic temperature scale.
Longevity of a heat pipe can be assured by selecting a container, a
wick and welding materials that are compatible with one another and
with the working fluid of interest. Performance can be degraded and
failures can occur in the container wall if any of the parts (including the
working fluid) are not compatible. For instance, the parts can react
chemically or set up a galvanic cell within the heat pipe. Additionally,
the container material may be soluble in the working fluid or may
catalyze the decomposition of the working fluid at the expected
operating temperature. A compilation of the most up-to-date
information concerning the compatibility of metals with working fluids
for heat pipes is given in Table 2 (Faghri, 1995). Figure 21 presents
various working fluid boiling points and classifies them into four
categories: cryogenic, low, intermediate and high temperature ranges.
The working-fluid inventory of a heat pipe is the sum of the masses of
the vapor and liquid phases, assuming the wick is full of liquid. This
criterion is slightly over the optimum requirement because the meniscus
recedes into the evaporator wick during normal operation. However,
this situation is more advantageous than underfilling the heat pipe,
which may significantly reduce the maximum heat transfer. With
extreme overfill, however, any excess fluid might collect as liquid in
the condenser section and increase the thermal resistance, thereby
decreasing the heat transport capability of the heat pipe.
Heat pipe fabrication, processing, and testing involve several detailed
procedures which are recommended to be strictly followed in order to
achieve the highest quality possible. Faghri (1995) provided a detailed
procedure for the fabrication, processing, and testing of low, moderate,
and high temperatures.
Cryogenic Temperature Range

Cryogenic heat pipes operate between 4 to 200 K. Typical working
fluids include helium, argon, oxygen, and krypton. The amount of heat
that can be transferred for cryogenic heat pipes is quite low due to the
container thickness must increase to the point where the heat pipe
becomes limited by the thermal resistance through the container.
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(diphenyl/diphenyl oxide eutectics) are also employed in this range.

Mercury has extremely attractive properties inherent in a liquid metal
such as its high thermal conductivity. However, problems with wetting
the wick and wall present difficulties in using mercury in capillary heat
pipes. The toxicity of mercury is also a significant problem. A review of
intermediate temperature fluid life tests experiments was reported by
Anderson et al. (2007).
small heats of vaporization, high viscosities, and small surface tensions

of the working fluids.
Table 2 Generalized results of experimental compatibility tests
Working Fluid
Compatible Material
Stainless Steela,
Copper, Silica,
Nickel, Titanium
Water
Incompatible
Material
Aluminum, Inconel
High Temperature Range
Ammonia
Aluminum, Stainless
Steel, Cold Rolled
Steel, Iron, Nickel
Methanol
Stainless Steel, Iron,

Copper, Brass, Silica,
Nickel
Acetone
Aluminum, Stainless
Steel, Copper, Brass,
Silica
Freon-11
Aluminum
Freon-21
Aluminum, Iron
Freon-113
Aluminum
Heptane
Aluminum
Dowtherm
Stainless Steel,
Copper, Silica
Lithium
Tungsten, Tantalum,
Molybdenum,
Niobium
Stainless Steel,
Nickel, Inconel,
Titanium
Sodium
Stainless Steel,
Nickel, Inconel,
Niobium
Titanium
Cesium
Titanium, Niobium,
Stainless Steel,
Nickel-based
superalloys
Mercury
Stainless Steelb
Molybdenum, Nickel,
Tantalum, Inconel,
Titanium, Niobium
Lead
Tungsten, Tantalum
Stainless Steel,
Nickel, Inconel,
Titanium, Niobium
Tungsten, Tantalum
Rhenium
Silver
aSensitive
to cleaning;
bwith
Sodium, lithium, cesium, silver and a sodium-potassium compound

(NaK) are often used in the high temperature range (750 K and above).
The heat transport rates for liquid-metal heat pipes are generally much
higher than those in the other temperature ranges because the surface
tension coefficients, latent heats of vaporization, and thermal
conductivities of liquid metals are very high.
Faghri (1995) presents thermophysical property data for most heat
pipe working fluids and container materials along with polynomial
temperature-property relations for the working fluids.
Aluminum
6.
CAPILLARY WICK DESIGNS AND STRUCTURES
The wick structure within the heat pipe is present to return condensate
to the evaporator section. While small pores are needed at the liquidvapor interface to develop high capillary pressures, large pores are
preferred within the wick so that the movement of the liquid is not
restricted too greatly. For this reason, many different types of wick
structures have been developed in order to optimize the performance of
the capillary heat pipe. The types of wick structures can be divided into
two categories: homogeneous and composite wicks. Homogeneous
wicks (Table 3) (Faghri, 1995) have the benefit of being relatively
simple to design, manufacture and install. Composite wicks (Table 4)
(Faghri, 1995), however, can significantly increase the capillary limit of
the heat pipe, but have the drawback of high manufacturing costs.
When selecting a wick structure for a particular application, one must
keep in mind the benefits and drawbacks of each type of wick.
There are three properties of wicks that are important in heat pipe
design:
Minimum capillary radius: This parameter should be small if a large
capillary pressure difference is required, such as in terrestrial operation
for a long heat pipe with the evaporator above the condenser, or in
cases where a high heat transport capability is needed.
Permeability: Permeability is a measure of the wick resistance to axial
liquid flow. This parameter should be large in order to have a small
liquid pressure drop, and therefore, higher heat transport capability.
Effective thermal conductivity: A large value for this parameter gives
a small temperature drop across the wick, which is a favorable
condition in heat pipe design.
A high thermal conductivity and permeability, and a low minimum
capillary radius are somewhat contradictory properties in most wick
designs. For example, a homogeneous wick may have a small minimum
capillary radius and a large effective thermal conductivity, but have a
small permeability. Therefore, the designer must always make trade-offs
between these competing factors to obtain an optimal wick design.
Austenitic SS
Low Temperature Range
Homogeneous Wicks
The low temperature range is from 200 to 550 K. Most heat pipe
applications fall within this range. Commonly used fluids are ammonia,
acetone, the Freon compounds, and water. Water, which is perhaps the
most widely used working fluid, has good thermophysical properties
such as large heat of vaporization and surface tension, and has the
added benefit of being safe to use during handling.
Homogeneous wicks (Table 3) (Faghri, 1995) are constructed with one

type of material or machining technique. The screen wick is seemingly
the simplest and most common type of wick structure. It consists of a
metal or cloth fabric which is wrapped around a mandrel and inserted
into the heat pipe. After placement, the mandrel is removed, leaving the
wick held by the tension of the wrapped screen, in the case of a metal
fabric. For a cloth fabric, a spring may be inserted into the heat pipe to
hold the wick against the inside of the pipe wall. The capillary pressure
generated by a screen wick is determined by the size of the rectangular
pores between the individual threads. The permeability is determined
Intermediate Temperature Range

The working fluids in the medium temperature range, 450 to 750 K, are
mercury and sulphur. Compounds such as Thermex or Dowtherm-A
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at high vapor velocities. Other attractive features of axial groove wicks

include the field-tested performance, reliability, and simplicity of
design.
The open annulus wick is simply a single-wrap screen wick, held
away from the inner pipe wall by stand-offs. This provides an
unimpeded return flow path between the screen and the pipe, which
greatly increases the permeability over the simple screen wick, while
maintaining the high capillary pressure. However, the effective thermal
conductivity of this wick is very low for most working fluids due to the
low liquid thermal conductivity. Difficulties in priming during startup,
and depriming during near-dryout operation are common in this type of
wick. The idea of an open condensate return path is also present in the
artery wick, but the problem of a low effective thermal conductivity, as
is present in the open annulus wick, is significantly reduced.
The artery wick combines the two necessities of having a small
pore radius for capillary pressure generation and having a large pore
radius for high permeability. In the artery wick structure, the interior of
the heat pipe is either covered by a screen wick or a sintered metal
powder in the usual manner, but a hollow passage(s) running the length
of the pipe is fashioned and is in communication with the rest of the
wick structure. Condensate is collected within this passage(s) or artery
and is pumped back to the evaporator section by the capillary forces
generated at the liquid-vapor interface. Since the inner diameter of the
artery is much larger than the effective pore radius of the wick, the
liquid is able to easily traverse the length of the heat pipe with a
minimum pressure drop. As with any design, there are difficulties
associated with the artery wick. First, problems associated with the
manufacturing of arteries must be addressed. The startup of artery wick
heat pipes is also critical due to the inevitable presence of vapor
bubbles within the artery, which effectively block liquid return.
Methods of collapsing these bubbles are complicated and not always
effective.
by the number of wraps and the looseness of the wraps, which create
annular gaps through which the condensate can flow.
Table 3 Typical homogeneous wick designs
High
High
High
Average
Low
High
Low
Low
High
Low
High
High
Composite Wicks
High
Composite wick structures (Table 4) (Faghri, 1995) employ the benefits

of having small pores for generating high capillary pumping pressures
and having large pores for increasing the permeability of the liquid
return path. Again, the simplest type of composite wick is the screen
wick, except that two screens with different pore sizes are used. Several
wraps of a screen with a large pore size is used against the inner pipe
wall for the liquid return path, and a single wrap of a screen with a
much smaller pore size is placed adjacent to the vapor space to develop
high capillary pressures. Similarly, axial grooves covered by a single
wrap of a small-pore screen can solve many of the problems associated
with the homogeneous axial groove wick. Since the screen effectively
separates the liquid and vapor flows, the entrainment of the liquid into
the vapor flow by the interfacial shear is nearly eliminated. Also, this
composite wick can be used in adverse gravity fields because the screen
generates the needed capillary pressures.
A slab wick in conjunction with circumferential grooves is often used
for applications where vapor velocities are generally low. The slab
wick, which is usually a felt or several layers of screen, is made in the
shape of a bar with a rectangular cross section. The longest side of the
cross section is the same as the inner diameter of the heat pipe.
Circumferential grooves distribute the condensate around the entire
circumference. Obviously, this type of wick is not appropriate for very
long heat pipes due to the difficulty in machining circumferential
grooves on the inside of the pipe. The tunnel or spiral artery also uses a
felt or several layers of screen, but is fashioned in the shape of a tube,
which is smaller than the inside diameter of the pipe. The artery is then
located on the pipe axis by slab wick stand-offs, which provide
condensate communication between the hollow artery and the
circumferential grooves on the inside diameter of the pipe. In the
monogroove heat pipe design, the vapor and liquid condensate flow in
different channels separated by a narrow groove. As with other arterial
type wick designs, circumferential grooves in the vapor channel help
High
Sintered metal wicks are manufactured by packing tiny metal

particles between the inner heat pipe wall and a mandrel in powder
form. This assembly is then heated until the metal spheres are sintered
to each other and to the inner wall of the heat pipe. Special materials
are used for the mandrel so that it can be removed, leaving an open
vapor space. This type of wick is obviously more difficult to
manufacture compared to the simple screen wick. However, the
capillary pressure developed by the sintered metal wick (and therefore
capillary limit) is more easily predicted, as the annular gaps present in a
screen wick present uncertainties in the permeability. Also, since a
metal powder is sintered, the effective thermal conductivity is much
higher than a comparable screen wick due to the poor thermal contact
between the screen wraps.
Axial groove wicks are formed by the extrusion or broaching of
grooves into the inner radius of the pipe. Several different types of
grooves have been used and proposed, which have rectangular,
triangular, trapezoidal, or nearly circular cross-sections. Trapezoidal
grooves are currently the most common type. The performance of axial
groove wicks is excellent, provided that the application does not call for
a significant adverse elevation against gravity. Since the size of the
grooves are large compared to those of a screen or sintered metal wick,
the capillary pumping pressure is quite small. However, the
permeability and the effective thermal conductivity are very high.
Drawbacks to this type of wick are the difficulty in machining the
grooves for long heat pipes, which might prove to be excessively
expensive, and the liquid-vapor interaction at the opening of the groove
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encountered limitation in the operation of low-temperature heat pipes.

It occurs when the pumping rate is not sufficient to provide enough
liquid to the evaporator section. This is due to the fact that the sum of
the liquid and vapor pressure drops exceed the maximum capillary
pressure that the wick can sustain. The maximum capillary pressure for
a given wick structure depends on the physical properties of the wick
and working fluid. Any attempt to increase the heat transfer above the
capillary limit will cause dryout in the evaporator section, where a
sudden increase in wall temperature along the evaporator section takes
place.
distribute the condensate. The double-walled artery consists of an inner

tube with external grooves, which is perforated at the evaporator and
condenser sections to allow vapor to escape into the interior. This inner
tube is concentrically placed in an outer tube with a screen mesh wick
at the inner wall. The double-walled artery wick design produces high
capillary pressures, and since condensate returns to the evaporator by
both a screen wick and arteries on the exterior of the inner pipe, total
blockages of the liquid return are unlikely.
Table 4 Typical composite wick designs
Sonic Limit
The evaporator and condenser sections of a heat pipe represent a vapor
flow channel with mass addition and extraction due to the evaporation
and condensation, respectively. The vapor velocity increases along the
evaporator and reaches a maximum at the end of the evaporator section.
The limitation of such a flow system is similar to that of a convergingdiverging nozzle with a constant mass flow rate, where the evaporator
exit corresponds to the throat of the nozzle. Therefore, one expects that
the vapor velocity at that point cannot exceed the local speed of sound.
This choked flow condition is called the sonic limitation. The sonic
limit usually occurs either during heat pipe startup or during steady
state operation when the heat transfer coefficient at the condenser is
high. The sonic limit is usually associated with liquid-metal heat pipes
due to high vapor velocities and low densities. Unlike the capillary
limit, when the sonic limit is exceeded, it does not represent a serious
failure. The sonic limitation corresponds to a given evaporator end cap
temperature. Increasing the evaporator end cap temperature will
increase this limit to a new higher sonic limit. The rate of heat transfer
will not increase by decreasing the condenser temperature under the
choked condition. Therefore, when the sonic limit is reached, further
increases in the heat transfer rate can be realized only when the
evaporator temperature increases. Operation of heat pipes with a heat
rate close to or at the sonic limit results in a significant axial
temperature drop along the heat pipe.
Boiling Limit
7.
If the radial heat flux in the evaporator section becomes too high, the
liquid in the evaporator wick boils and the wall temperature becomes
excessively high. The vapor bubbles that form in the wick prevent the
liquid from wetting the pipe wall, which causes hot spots. If this boiling
is severe, it dries out the wick in the evaporator, which is defined as the
boiling limit. However, under a low or moderate radial heat flux, low
intensity stable boiling is possible without causing dryout. It should be
noted that the boiling limitation is a radial heat flux limitation as
compared to an axial heat flux limitation for the other heat pipe limits.
However, since they are related through the evaporator surface area, the
maximum radial heat flux limitation also specifies the maximum axial
heat transport. The boiling limit is often associated with heat pipes of
non-metallic working fluids. For liquid-metal heat pipes, the boiling
limit is rarely seen.
HEAT TRANSFER LIMITATIONS
There are various parameters that put limitations and constraints on the
steady and transient operations of heat pipes (Faghri, 1995). In other
words, the rate of heat transport through a heat pipe is subject to a
number of operating limits. Physical phenomena that might limit heat
transport in heat pipes are due to capillary, sonic, entrainment, boiling,
frozen startup, continuum vapor, vapor pressure and condenser effects.
The heat transfer limitation can be any of the above limitations
depending on the size and shape of the pipe, working fluid, wick
structure, and operating temperature. The lowest limit among the eight
constraints defines the maximum heat transport limitation of a heat pipe
at a given temperature. The physical phenomena for each limitation are
briefly presented below. A detailed presentation of the criteria for the
heat transfer limitations for heat pipes are provided in Faghri (1995).
Entrainment Limit
A shear force exists at the liquid-vapor interface since the vapor and
liquid move in opposite directions. At high relative velocities, droplets
of liquid can be torn from the wick surface and entrained into the vapor
flowing toward the condenser section. If the entrainment becomes too
great, the evaporator will dry out. The heat transfer rate at which this
occurs is called the entrainment limit. Entrainment can be detected by
the sounds made by droplets striking the condenser end of the heat
pipe. The entrainment limit is often associated with low or moderate
temperature heat pipes with small diameters, or high temperature heat
pipes when the heat input at the evaporator is high.
Capillary Limit
The ability of a particular capillary structure to provide the circulation
for a given working fluid is limited (Faghri and Thomas, 1989; Faghri,
1995). This limit is commonly called the capillary limitation or
hydrodynamic limitation. The capillary limit is the most commonly
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zero to the operating input, maintaining a uniform temperature across

the length of the pipe. This procedure is not usually feasible in practice.
Normally, the heat input increases suddenly from zero to the operating
input, without the benefit of increasing the temperature of the entire
pipe. This may result in problems occurring in the startup period, which
will be discussed here for three different common situations.
Vapor Pressure Limit

At low operating temperatures, viscous forces may be dominant for the
vapor moving flow down the heat pipe. For a long liquid-metal heat
pipe, the vapor pressure at the condenser end may reduce to zero. The
heat transport of the heat pipe may be limited under this condition. The
vapor pressure limit (viscous limit) is encountered when a heat pipe
operates at temperatures below its normal operating range, such as
during startup from the frozen state. In this case, the vapor pressure is
very small, with the condenser end cap pressure nearly zero.
Frozen Startup Limit

During the startup process from the frozen state, the active length of the
heat pipe is less than the total length, and the distance the liquid has to
travel in the wick is less than that required for steady state operations.
Therefore, the capillary limit will usually not occur during the startup
process if the heat input is not very high and is not applied too abruptly.
However, for heat pipes with an initially frozen working fluid, if the
melting temperature of the working fluid and the heat capacities of the
heat pipe container and wick are high, and the latent heat of
evaporation and cross-sectional area of the wick are small, a frozen
startup limit may occur due to the freezing out of vapor from the
evaporation zone to the adiabatic or condensation zone.
Condenser Heat Transfer Limit

In general, heat pipe condensers and the method of cooling the
condenser should be designed such that the maximum heat rate capable
of being transported by the heat pipe can be removed. However, in
exceptional cases with high temperature heat pipes, appropriate
condensers cannot be developed to remove the maximum heat
capability of the heat pipe. Due to the presence of noncondensible
gases, the effective length of the heat pipe is reduced during continuous
operation. Therefore, the condenser is not used to its full capacity. In
both cases, the heat transfer limitation can be due to the condenser
limit.
Fig. 22 Transient axial temperature profiles during heat pipe startup:

(a) Uniform startup; (b) Frozen startup; (c) Gas-loaded heat pipe
startup.
Vapor Continuum Limit

Uniform Startup
For heat pipes with very low operating temperatures, especially when
the dimension of the heat pipe is very small such as micro heat pipes,
the vapor flow in the heat pipe may be in the free molecular or rarefied
condition. The heat transport capability under this condition is limited,
and is called the vapor continuum limit.
Figure 22(a) shows the startup of a heat pipe in which the axial
temperature is nearly uniform throughout the startup period. This type
of startup profile is normally seen in heat pipes in which the working
fluid in the wick is in the liquid state, and the vapor is in the continuum
state. An example is a copper-water heat pipe starting from ambient
temperature to some higher operating temperature. As can be seen, no
problems are encountered during the uniform startup.
Flooding Limit
The flooding limit is the most common concern for long thermosyphons
with large liquid fill ratios, large axial heat fluxes, and small radial heat
fluxes (Faghri et al., 1989a). This limit occurs due to the instability of
the liquid film generated by a high value of interfacial shear, which is a
result of the large vapor velocities induced by high axial heat fluxes.
The vapor shear hold-up prevents the condensate from returning to the
evaporator and leads to a flooding condition in the condenser section.
This causes a partial dryout of the evaporator, which results in wall
temperature excursions or in limiting the operation of the system.
8.
Frozen Startup
Figure 22(b) presents the case of a heat pipe in which the working fluid
within the wick structure is initially frozen, and the vapor space is
essentially evacuated. This type of frontal startup is usually found in
liquid-metal heat pipes, since liquid metals are in the solid state at room
temperature. Frozen startup proceeds as follows: Heat is first conducted
through the pipe wall and into the wick structure, increasing the
temperature in the evaporator section only. After the working fluid in
the evaporator wick is liquefied, evaporation begins to fill the vapor
space with vapor. The vapor travels to the adiabatic section and
condenses, releasing its latent heat and increasing the adiabatic section
temperature. This front continues down the length of the pipe until it
reaches the condenser end cap. At that time, the axial temperature
distribution starts to become uniform, and the startup process is
completed. The presence of large axial temperature gradients indicates
that the sonic limit is occurring during frozen startup. In actuality, this
is not a limit per se, since the heat pipe will not be damaged during this
process. Another more important limit is the frozen startup limit, as
previously discussed. The frozen startup limit occurs when more
HEAT PIPE START UP
The procedures typically used in designing heat pipes are based on the
fact that the heat pipe is in its normal operating state, i.e., nominal
temperature at the steady state. However, the heat pipe must be started
from the ambient temperature, which is either lower or higher than the
operating temperature (Faghri, 1995). If the startup is too fast, the
possibility of overheating the evaporator section can result in damage to
the heat pipe.
Ideally, the heat pipe should first be started by increasing (or
decreasing) the temperature of the entire pipe to its operating
temperature. The heat input to the pipe is then slowly increased from
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as well as a comparison with a copper rod of 24.5 mm OD, are also

shown in Fig. 23(b).
working fluid is evaporated than can be resupplied by the wick

structure, due to the fact that the working fluid in the adiabatic and
condenser sections is completely frozen. When this occurs, the
evaporator section is depleted of liquid and overheats due to dryout.
The thermal response of a conventional commercial screen mesh

copper-water heat pipe with 6.35 mm OD and an inner diameter of 5.85
mm in comparison with a copper pipe of the same dimension is shown
in Fig. 24. There are commercial companies all over the world (with
more concentration in the Far East) who manufacture heat pipes of
different shapes and sizes for various operating temperature ranges. A
typical commercial off-the-shelf performance characteristic for several
copper water heat pipes (Fujikura, Ltd) is presented in Fig. 25.
Gas-Loaded Heat Pipe Startup

The noncondensible gas present in gas-loaded heat pipes gives the
startup a frontal character. Figure 22(c) shows the case in which the
working fluid in the wick is initially liquid in a gas-loaded heat pipe.
Before the heat input is applied in the evaporator, the noncondensible
gas is evenly distributed throughout the vapor space. When evaporation
occurs, the working fluid vapor drives the gas to the condenser end of
the heat pipe. Since the gas and the vapor are essentially separated, the
effect of the gas is to block the condenser section from transferring heat
to the heat sink. The presence of the gas can be seen in the axial
temperature profile, which has an abrupt drop at the vapor-gas
interface. More heat is then fed into the pipe, increasing the wall and
vapor temperatures within the evaporator and adiabatic sections. This
increases the vapor pressure, which compresses the gas in the
condenser section. The vapor-gas front moves downstream into the
condenser section, eventually unblocking part of the condenser, so that
normal operation can take place.
9.
Testing point
HEAT PIPE CHARACTERISTICS
a) Testing configuration
b) Transient response
High Effective Thermal Conductivity

The heat pipe is a device of very high thermal conductance (Faghri,
1995). For example, a temperature difference of 900C is needed to
transfer 1 KW heat across a 30-mm-diameter 1-m-long copper rod. A
heat pipe of the same size can transfer the same amount of heat with a
temperature difference of less than 10C. This indicates that the heat
pipe can have a thermal conductivity 90 times higher than that of a
copper bar of the same size. Numerous heat pipe designs have been
developed for various applications with varied heat transport
capabilities.
Heat transfer rate (W)
Coolant water inlet
Fig. 24 Transient response of a typical copper-water heat pipe

compared to a copper pipe of the same dimensions.
Three of the important design parameters that are used to compare

heat pipes and other two-phase thermal devices are the thermal
resistance, the axial heat transport capacity (W-m) and the maximum
radial heat flux at evaporator (W/cm). Table 5 presents typical
experimental operating values reported in literature for a number of
heat pipes tested under various operating conditions. The operating
temperature, wick design, wall material and dimensions of the heat
pipes tested are listed in this table. Also, the axial heat transport rate
(W), axial heat transport capability (W-m) and the radial heat flux
(W/cm) are given. The radial heat flux or axial heat transport values
reported may not necessarily be the limiting values.
Electrical
heater
horizontal
b) Heat transfer characteristics
Fig. 23 Heat transfer characteristics of some typical commercial

copper-water screen mesh heat pipes.
The heat transfer characteristics of a heat pipe can be measured
using a conventional configuration as shown in Fig. 23(a). Figure 23(b)
shows the heat transfer rate versus the mean temperature difference
between the evaporator and condenser sections of commercially
available copper-water heat pipes with a screen mesh wick and different
diameters. Most of the tests were made in a vertical position (gravityassisted wicked heat pipe), where the driving force is due to both
capillary pumping and gravity. A typical test for horizontal operation,
Fig. 25 Maximum heat transfer rate and thermal resistance of several

commercially available copper-water heat pipes with fine fiber wicks
for horizontal operation with L=300 mm, Le=50 mm and Lc = 250 mm.
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Table 5 Some typical experimental heat pipe results

Working
Fluid
Operating
Temperatu
re
Wick Design
Wall
Material
Dimensions
Lt = 0.4 m
Le = 3 cm
Lc = 11.5 cm
Di = 7 mm
Lt = 5.5 m
Le = 0.91 m
Lc = 0.91 m
Dv = 13.4 mm
Dl = 6.32 mm
slot width = 0.381
mm
Outer pipe same as
above; Inner pipe:
Do = 29.7 mm
Di = 25.4 mm
Do = 19.05 mm
Di = 15.75 mm
Lt = 355.6 mm
Le = 101.6 mm
Lc = 152.4 mm
20-180
4.6-41
0.33-2.96
Kempers et al. (2008)
Lt = 120.65 mm
W = 13.41 mm
Le = 15.6 mm
Lc = 34.4 mm
La = 70 mm
L = 1.0 m
Le = (4)@6.4 cm
Lc = 30 cm
Dv = 25.4 mm
Di = 22 mm
Lt = 120 mm
H = 2 mm
W = 7 mm
Le = 20 mm
Lc = 20 mm
Do = 19.1 mm
Di = 17.3 mm
Lt = 610 mm
Le = 393 mm
Lc = 170 mm
Lt = 82 mm
130
(horizontal)
170 (vertical)
15.6
20.4
90 (horizontal)
150 (vertical)
Hopkins et al. (1999)
392
283
1.92
Faghri and Buchko

(1991) (multiple
evaporators)
70
8.4
35
Plesch et al. (1991)
570
187
2.4
El-Genk and Huang

(1993)
40
20
Cao et al. (1997)
Lt = 120 mm
W = 7 mm
H = 3 mm
Lt = 1.2 m
Le = 0.2 m
Lc = 0.2 m
Dv = 13.4 mm
Do = 22.2 mm
Do = 15.8 mm
Di = 6 mm
Lt = 209 mm
Le = 45 mm
Lc = 100 mm
Do = 25 mm
Di = 20 mm
Lt = 1000 mm
Le = 400 mm
Lc = 550 mm
50
(horizontal)
70 (vertical)
900
25 (horizontal)
35 (vertical)
Gao et al. (2000)
900
6.45
Faghri et al. (1984)
35-70
4.8-9.6
1.57-3.13
Jouhara and Robinson

(2009)
390
204.8
1.24
Trovole and Raine

(1995)
Methane
-140C
Circumferential
mesh wick and
arterial wick
Stainless steel
Ammonia
25C
Monogroove
Aluminum
Water
50C
Axial grooves
Copper
Water
Water
50, 70, 80C 3 wraps of a

Copper
copper wire screen
mesh with a wire
diameter of 0.11
mm and 3937
strands per meter
60-95C
Micro capillary
Copper
grooves
(trapezoidal and
rectangular)
Water
75C
Circumferential
copper screen (50
mesh)
Copper
Water
100C
Axial grooves
Copper with
rectangular
cross section
Water
100C
Copper wick, 150

mesh
Copper
Axial rectangular
grooves
Axial rectangular
grooves
Copper
Water
Water
100 C
Copper
Water
160C
Double-wall artery Copper
Therminol
VP-1
300-400C
Thermosyphon
316-stainless
steel
SulfurIodine 5%
wt
350C
Thermosyphon
Mild steel
16
Axial Heat
Transport
(W)
12
Axial Heat
Radial Heat
Transport
Flux (W/cm2)
Capability
(W-m)
3.93
1.82
Reference
Rosler et al. (1987)
700
3200
7.26
Alario et al. (1982)
1300
940
Inner pipe: 2.32 Faghri and Thomas

Outer pipe: 1.47 (1989) (annular heat
pipe)

DOI: 10.5098/fhp.5.1
Working
Fluid
Operating
Temperatu
re
Sodium
430-790C
Sodium
650C
Sodium
800C
Mercury
630C
NaK (with
Argon as
NCG)
700C
Lithium
1227C
(1500 K)
Wick Design

ISSN: 2155-658X
Wall
Material
Dimensions
Circumferential
Stainless steel
stainless steel
screen (100 mesh)
Axial Heat
Transport
(W)
Lt = 1.0 m
Le = (4)@5.3 cm
Lc = 29.2 cm
Do = 26.7 mm
Di = 21.5 mm
Nickel sintered
Stainless steel Do = 21.3 mm
powder metal
Di = wick and an artery
Lt = 460 mm
Le = 100 mm
Lc = 160 mm
Lc,inactive = 100 mm
Double-wall artery Stainless steel Lt = 2.0 m
Le = 25 cm
Lc = 91 cm
Do = 2.22 cm
Thermosyphon
316L stainless Do = 25.4 mm
steel
Di = 21 mm
Lt = 1000 mm
Le = 200 mm
Lc = 640 mm
304 stainless wick 304L stainless Do = 19.1 mm
steel
Di = Lt = 600 mm
Le = 114 mm
Lc,1 = 73 mm
Lc,2 = 66 mm
Lc,inactive = 50 mm
Free-floating Mo- molybdenum Do = 19.1 mm
41wt.%Re 400Di = 16.06 mm
mesh screen wick
Lt = 1800 mm
(0.41 mm thick)
Le = 300 mm
Lc = 1470 mm
A 0.37 mm
annular gap
separates the wick
from the wall
1309
Axial Heat
Radial Heat
Transport
Flux (W/cm2)
Capability
(W-m)
979
6.64
Reference
1400
322
21
Yamawaki et al.
(1998)
758
1076
4.35
Ponnappan (1989)
1922
1115
12
Vieira da Cunha and

Mantelli (2009)
250
57
3.65
Anderson and Tarau

(2008)
4000
3660
22.2
Tournier and ElGenk (2003)
Faghri et al. (1991a)

(multiple
evaporators)
pipe design is only restricted by the need to provide for these

mechanisms. With this in mind, heat pipes can be designed so that they
fit various shapes and configurations. These geometries range from
simple cylindrical or flat heat pipes, to curved plate heat pipes for solar
collectors and leading edge heat pipes.
Thermal Transformer
The heat pipe can be effectively used as a thermal transformer to link
energy sources and sinks having different heat fluxes. Energy can be
added at a high heat flux rate to the heat pipe over a small surface area
and removed over a larger surface area at a lower heat flux, or vice
versa. Thermal flux transformation ratios as large as 15 to 1 can be
achieved using heat pipes.
Maintenance-Free
Since heat pipes are a closed systems and do not need any external
electrical or mechanical drives, they can operate over long periods of
time without maintenance.
Power Flattening
A heat pipe that provides power flattening can be easily designed. A
constant output heat flux at the condenser can be maintained for
variations in the input heat flux in the evaporator section.
10. HEAT PIPE ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION

Background
Temperature Control
Numerical and analytical simulation of heat pipes has progressed

significantly in the last several decades. The state of the art has been
advanced in steady state, continuum transient, and frozen start up
simulation for high-, intermediate-, and low-temperature heat pipes of
conventional and nonconventional geometries.
In determining the heat capacity transmitted through a heat pipe or
heat pipe performance characteristics, it is necessary to know the liquid
and vapor pressure losses in the separate segments. The thermal fluid
phenomena occurring within a heat pipe can be divided into four basic
categories: (1) vapor flow in the core region, (2) liquid flow in the
wick, (3) interaction between the liquid and vapor flows, and (4) heat
conduction in the wall. Most of the detailed analytical and numerical
research on heat pipes has been done on the vapor core region and wall
By actively determining the conditions at the condenser (sink), a heat

pipe can be designed to keep a nearly constant temperature at the
evaporator even though the rate of heat input to evaporator varies. This
is the basis for the variable conductance heat pipe which is discussed by
Faghri (1995). The gas-loaded heat pipe, in which a noncondensible
gas and a gas reservoir are constructed with a conventional heat pipe, is
the simplest means to actively determine the conditions at the
condenser.
Freedom of Design
Since the basic mechanisms of a heat pipe are the capillary pumping of
a wick and the evaporation and condensation of a working fluid, heat
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vapor pressure. Some of the working fluid in the wick is still frozen
in the adiabatic and condenser sections.
heat conduction, since the liquid flow is difficult to describe with an

exact theoretical model. Because of the presence of the wick structure,
the analysis of categories (2) and (3) requires some empirical
information that must be obtained from experimentation. Furthermore,
the analyses of categories (2) and (3) are basically similar for heat pipes
of various shapes. In contrast, the dynamics of vapor flow are related to
the geometry and boundary specifications for nonconventional heat
pipes.
The interaction between different regions can be best illustrated by
following the real heat pipe operating condition, as shown by the flow
chart in Fig. 26. Consider a heat pipe with an initial operating
condition. If the heat load from the heat source to the heat pipe
evaporator surface is increased at t 0 to a higher level, the temperature
of the container wall is increased accordingly, and more heat is
transferred from the container to the heat pipe wick structure. In this
case, the heat pipe container wall is interacting with the heat pipe wick
structure. Meanwhile, the state of the liquid-vapor interface may change
due to the change in liquid pressure and temperature. The interface
evaporation mass flux is also increased because more heat is transferred
from the wick structure to the interface. A higher mass flux at the
interface will increase the vapor velocity, and result in a change in the
vapor working condition. In the above process, the liquid flow in the
wick structure is interacting with vapor flow via the liquid-vapor
interface. At the same time, more liquid mass may condense onto the
liquid-vapor interface in the condenser section due to the higher mass
flow rate from the evaporator section. This will subsequently change
the interface state. The interaction between the vapor flow and the
liquid-vapor interface in this case can be called feedback. These
feedback interactions will also occur between the liquid-vapor interface
and wick structure, and between the wick structure and the container.
In Fig. 26, regions can interact only with regions directly above or
below. The container region, for example, cannot interact with the
vapor region directly. It can only interact with the vapor region via the
wick structure region and the liquid-vapor interface. This is due to the
physical locations of the different regions, which prescribe the relation
between different regions. In general, all of the regions in the flow chart
should be solved as a conjugate problem. However, in the real
application, approximations are often introduced due to the complex
nature of the problem. Some regions in the flow chart may be neglected
or combined with other regions. Regions can also be decoupled from
other regions. For instance, if we neglect the liquid flow in the wick
structure, and solve the region as a heat conduction problem, the region
associated with the wick structure may be combined with the region
associated with the heat conduction in the container. If we are only
interested in the vapor flow in the heat pipe, we can neglect the three
preceding regions, and directly go to the fourth region associated with
vapor flow. In some applications, the liquid flow in the wick structure
is of interest. Therefore, the wick region can be decoupled from other
regions, and solved as a one region problem with appropriate
assumptions.
For the convenience of analysis, the frozen start up process of a
high-temperature heat pipe or frozen low-temperate heat pipe can be
divided into several periods based on experimental evidence.
4. Continuum vapor flow is established in the evaporator section as the

vapor pressure increases due to evaporation. In the remainder of the
heat pipe, however, the vapor is still in the rarefied condition.
5. The working fluid is completely melted and continuum flow is
established over the entire heat pipe length. The heat pipe
temperature increases steadily until the steady state is reached.
6. The heat pipe is operating under steady state operation.
Fig. 26 Flow chart for heat pipe operation and interaction between
different regions.
The parameters limiting heat transport in conventional heat pipes due to
vapor flow are the capillary, sonic, and entrainment limitations. The
sonic limitation is not greatly influenced by any aspect of the wick
structure. Therefore, the choking phenomena should be of primary
interest in the vapor flow analysis due to the fact that the vapor velocity
becomes significant compared with the sonic velocity. Furthermore,
vapor flow analyses are required to predict the capillary limitation. In
each concentration, there are several levels of approximation, ranging
from a simple one-dimensional vapor flow analysis to a complete threedimensional analysis, considering the conjugate nature of the wall and
wick. Important modeling considerations include vapor compressibility,
heat pipe geometry, and heat input distributions.
These methods cover various approximations and approaches,
such as compressible vs. incompressible, analytical and closed-form
solutions vs. numerical analyses, as well as one-dimensional, twodimensional, and three-dimensional modeling considerations in each
region. Faghri (2012) reviewed the advances in analysis and simulation
of the different types of heat pipes under various operating conditions,
also presented in this section.
This section summarizes the developments in modeling and
discusses important results for various types of heat pipes under various
operating conditions in the following order (Faghri, 2012):
1 Steady state (period 6 above)
2 Transient (period 5 above)
3 Frozen start up (periods 1 through 6 above)
4 Axially grooved heat pipes
5 Thermosyphons
6 Rotating heat pipes
7 Loop heat pipes
1. The working fluid in the wick is frozen at the ambient temperature.

For a heat pipe without any noncondensible gas present in the vapor
space, the vapor core is completely evacuated before start up.
2. Heat input is started in the evaporator section. Heat is conducted
through the pipe wall and wick structure, and melting of the working
fluid begins at the wall-wick interface. Because the liquid-solid
interface has not reached the wick-vapor boundary, no evaporation
takes place and the vapor space is still evacuated.
3. The working fluid is completely melted in the evaporator section
only, and liquid is evaporated at the liquid-vapor interface. The
vapor flow in the rarefied or free molecular condition due to the low
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two-dimensional conduction model in the wall and wick. This model

solves the complete elliptic Navier-Stokes equations in the vapor with a
finite control volume iterative technique. The simulation was performed
for the high-temperature sodium/stainless-steel heat pipe studied in
Ivanovskii et al. (1982) with the results shown in Fig. 28. They used
three different methods: compressible elliptic, incompressible elliptic
and compressible parabolic. Both the compressible elliptic and
compressible parabolic solutions gave reasonable vapor temperature
distributions, while the incompressible elliptic case shows the
importance of including vapor compressibility.
8 Capillary pump loop heat pipes

9 Micro and miniature heat pipes
10 Pulsating heat pipes
11 Gas-loaded heat pipes
Steady-State
A steady state operational performance prediction is of significant value
in the design of heat pipes. Faghri (1986) modeled the steady-state twodimensional incompressible vapor flow in an annular heat pipe. In this
study, the boundary-layer approximations were used to reduce the fully
elliptic conservation equations to the partially parabolic Navier-Stokes
equations, which were solved using a fully implicit, marching finitedifference scheme.
Fig. 28 The axial interface temperature profile along the sodium heat
pipe with Q = 560 W, Rv = 0.007 m, Le = 0.1 m, La = 0.05 m, kl = 66.2
W/m2-K, ks = 19.0 W/m2-K, l = 0.0005 m, w = 0.001 m. (Chen and
Faghri, 1990)
This methodology was extended to model a low-temperature,
multiple-evaporator heat pipe by Faghri and Buchko (1991). The heat
pipe was simulated using a two-dimensional compressible formulation
for the vapor flow, and a two-dimensional conduction model in the
wall. However, Faghri and Buchko (1991) included the twodimensional effects of liquid flow in the wick using volume-averaged
velocities in the porous media. The conservation equations were solved
using an elliptic finite control volume iterative scheme with the results
as shown in Fig. 29. The experimental data corresponded to a watercopper multiple-evaporator heat pipe. One case was performed with
only evaporator 1 active and a heat input of 97 W. Another had
evaporators 1 and 2 active, with heat inputs of 99 W and 98 W,
respectively.
Fig. 27 Comparison of numerical results of Cao et al. (1989) with

experimental data of Rosenfeld (1987).
This work was extended by Faghri and Parvani (1988) and Faghri
(1989), where vapor compressibility was considered and the complete
elliptic Navier-Stokes equations were solved. One- and twodimensional models were developed for the vapor flow in an annular
heat pipe, and the assumptions used by Faghri (1986) were verified. A
major contribution of this work is the derivation of analytic expressions
for the axial pressure drop within the annular heat pipe. These relations
can also be simplified to describe a conventional cylindrical heat pipe
and be used directly in the design process of heat pipes.
Block-heated heat pipes are often used as heat transfer
mechanisms for energy conservation systems and electronic cooling.
The fundamental difference between these systems and conventional
heat pipe systems is the nonuniform block heating at the evaporator,
which influences the temperature distributions and vapor flow patterns
throughout the heat pipe. Cao et al. (1989) proposed a simplified model
of this process by defining two separate governing equations for the
evaporator section: one for the pipe wall under the heated block and
one for the remaining unheated pipe wall. In this method, a power-law
relationship was used for the boiling heat flux. The block-heated
simulation was performed for the heat pipe studied experimentally by
Rosenfeld (1987), which used a narrow line heated on a lowtemperature heat pipe. The circumferential wall temperature profile
predicted by Cao et al. (1989) is shown in Fig. 27, with good agreement
with the experimental data. Cao et al. (1989) determined that the
evaporative heat transfer coefficient has a strong influence on the wall
temperature profile. This is because with a large evaporation
coefficient, the majority of the input heat is removed through the phase
change of the working fluid. With a lower evaporation coefficient, more
heat is conducted circumferentially through the pipe wall, smoothing
the temperature profile.
The importance of the effect of conjugate heat transfer within the
heat pipe wall and wick was shown by Chen and Faghri (1990) with a
model of the two-dimensional compressible vapor flow coupled to the
Fig. 29 Heat pipe wall and vapor temperature versus axial location for
(a) single evaporator; (b) two evaporators (Faghri and Buchko, 1991).
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Figure 31 shows a comparison of the numerical results by Xiao

and Faghri (2008) with the experimental data (Wang and Vafai, 2000)
for the temperature distributions at the surface of the top and bottom
walls of the flat heat pipe. The deviation in the condenser section in the
top wall is mainly due to the variation of the convective heat transfer
coefficient dependent of different surface temperature in the
experiment, which is assumed to be constant in the numerical model.
The block heating phenomena studied by Cao et al. (1989) was

further investigated by Schmalhofer and Faghri (1993a; 1993b). The
complete three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations were
solved in the vapor, and the wall and wick were simulated with a threedimensional conduction model. The results of this simulation were
compared with the experimental data of Schmalhofer and Faghri
(1993a) for a water-copper heat pipe with good agreement
(Schmalhofer and Faghri (1993b)).
An analytical and numerical study was carried out by Zhu and
Vafai (1998b) for the steady incompressible vapor and liquid flow in
flat plate heat pipes. The pseudo-three-dimensional analytical model
employed the boundary layer approximation to describe the vapor flow
conditions. The three-dimensional effects are discussed and the results
show that a three-dimensional analysis is necessary if the vapor channel
width-to-height ratio is less than 2.5.
Lefevre and Lallemand (2006) developed an analytical solution for
a 2D hydrodynamic model for both liquid and vapor coupled to 3D heat
conduction for the wall to simulate the steady state operation of a flat
miniature heat pipe. The proposed model is also capable to predict the
maximum heat transfer capability for a miniature heat pipe with
multiple heat sources.
A detailed, three-dimensional steady-state model was developed
by Xiao and Faghri (2008) to analyze the thermal hydrodynamic
behaviors of flat heat pipes and vapor chambers without empirical
correlations. The model accounts for the heat conduction in the wall,
fluid flow in the vapor chambers and porous wicks, and the coupled
heat and mass transfer at the liquid-vapor interface. The flat heat pipes
with and without vertical wick columns in the vapor channel (Fig. 30)
were investigated in the model by Xiao and Faghri (2008).
Fig. 31 Verification of numerical results for temperature distribution

along a flat heat pipe with vertical wick columns at (a) the top wall; (b)
the bottom wall at Z = W/2 (Xiao and Faghri, 2008).
Aghvami and Faghri (2011) presented a steady-state analytical
thermal-fluid model, including the wall and both liquid and vapor flows
for flat heat pipes and vapor chambers with different heating and
cooling configurations. The parametric investigations showed that the
assumption of uniform evaporation and condensation in the axial
direction is valid only if the wall thermal conductivity is small.
Shabgard and Faghri (2011) extended the above model to cylindrical
heat pipes with multiple evaporator sections. The two-dimensional heat
conduction in the heat pipes wall was coupled with the liquid flow in
the wick and the vapor hydrodynamics. It was found that neglecting the
axial heat conduction through the wall can result in overestimated
pressure drops up to 10% depending on the heat pipe specifications.
Fig. 30 Schematic diagram of the flat heat pipe: (a) geometry of the heat
pipe; (b) cross-sectional view in YZ plane; and (c) computational domain
(Xiao and Faghri, 2008).
Transient
A first-order transient model of the vapor flow in a heat pipe was
proposed by Jang et al. (1991). This model simulated heat pipe
operation with one-dimensional compressible vapor flow in a porous
pipe, accounting for laminar and turbulent skin friction. The results of
this model are compared with the experimental data of Bowman (1987)
in Fig. 32, where the transient vapor pressure at three locations along
the heat pipe is shown. As in a conventional heat pipe, pressure
recovery occurs in the condenser section can be seen. A major
advantage of this method is the ability to capture sharp pressure
gradients, such as those that would occur in supersonic flow or across
shock waves.
A comprehensive transient heat pipe analysis is presented by Cao
and Faghri (1990). This two-dimensional model accounts for vapor
Parametric effects, including the evaporative heat input and size on

the thermal and hydrodynamic behavior in the heat pipes, were
presented. The results showed that, the vertical wick columns in the
vapor core can improve the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of
the heat pipes, including thermal resistance, capillary limit, wall
temperature, pressure drop, and fluid velocities due to the enhancement
of the fluid/heat mechanism form the bottom condenser to the top
evaporator. The results also predicted that higher evaporative heat input
improves the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the heat pipe,
and shortening the size of heat pipe degrades the thermal performance
of the heat pipe.
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Two iterative estimate-correction processes and a new pressurecorrection method were incorporated in the vapor solution procedure.
Significant reduction of the computation time was obtained by using
this hybrid FDM/BEM. Comparisons with previous experimental and
numerical results validated the assumption of a quasi-steady-state vapor
and the solution methods.
compressibility and couples the vapor flow with heat conduction in the
wall and wick. For high-temperature heat pipes, it was determined that
the conduction model is sufficient to describe heat transfer in the wick.
This methodology allows heat pipe simulation for pulsed heat inputs
with either a convective or radiative boundary condition at the outer
pipe wall of the condenser. The transient vapor temperature profile for a
pulsed heat input of Q = 623 W to 770 W with the convective boundary
condition is shown in Fig. 33(a). The operating temperature of the heat
pipe increases with time after the heat pulse. This is due to the coupling
of the vapor to the wall, because the outer pipe wall temperature in the
condenser must increase to reject the additional heat. The vapor
temperature with the radiative boundary condition is shown in Fig.
33(b). Faghri et al. (1991b) adapted the numerical model of Cao and
Faghri (1990) to a high-temperature heat pipe with multiple heat
sources and sinks. Numerical results for continuum transient and
steady-state operations with multiple heat sources were compared with
the experimental results of Faghri et al. (1991a) and found to be in
good agreement.
Fig. 32 Comparison of numerical results of Jang et al. (1991) with the

experimental results of Bowman (1987) (Jang et al., 1991).
A transient model capable of simulating nonconventional
geometries was proposed by Cao and Faghri (1991) and Cao and Faghri
(1993a). This method solves the one-dimensional compressible vapor
flow coupled to the two- or three-dimensional heat conduction in the
wall and wick. The one-dimensional vapor flow is easier to solve than
the two-dimensional formulation, but friction coefficient information is
required for both laminar and turbulent flow regimes. For complex
geometries, such as a wing leading edge or spacecraft nosecap, a
multidimensional formulation is used in the wall and wick. Conduction
in the wall and wick is coupled to the vapor flow through a conjugate
heat transfer solution technique for the elliptic conservation equations
in the vapor. In this analysis, the liquid flow in the wick was assumed to
be decoupled from heat pipe operation to determine the capillary limit
for nonconventional geometries. This simulation was used to
investigate the use of heat pipes for cooling the leading edge of reentry
vehicles and hypersonic aircraft. In this case, a line heat source was
applied at the leading edge stagnation point of the wing to simulate
aerodynamic heating. The results of this simulation are shown in Fig.
34, where the extreme temperature gradient in the pipe wall at the
leading edge can be seen. This is due to the severe heat flux (q = 75 x
106 W/m2) at this point, which represents actual hypersonic heat loads.
A transient heat pipe model was developed by Zuo and Faghri
(1997) using a transient two-dimensional wall and wick heat
conduction and a quasi-steady-state one-dimensional vapor flow. The
assumption of quasi-steady-state vapor was based on the fact that the
vapor dynamics have a much smaller timescale than the wall
conduction based on dimensional analysis. The transient twodimensional wall heat conduction was solved by a boundary element
method (BEM). A control volume finite difference method (FDM) was
employed to solve the vapor flow continuity and momentum equations.
Fig. 33 Centerline vapor temperature for transient response to heat

input pulse: (a) convective boundary condition; (b) radiative boundary
condition (Cao and Faghri, 1990).
Fig. 34 Leading edge heat pipe outer wall temperature distribution

(Cao and Faghri, 1993a).
An accurate, but simple lumped model using the network model
was developed for transient heat pipe analysis by Zuo and Faghri
(1998). The heat pipe consists of a number of components with
different thermal resistances and dynamic responses in the network
model. Governing equations of the transient heat pipe behavior were
significantly simplified to a set of first-order, linear, ordinary
differential equations. Figure 35 compares the transient network model
with experimental results. For this specific case, the computational time
required by the network model is about 1 minute on a standard desktop
PC compared to several hours of CPU needed for a full twodimensional numerical model. Zhu and Vafai (1998a) developed an
analytical solution for quasi-steady and incompressible vapor flow with
transient one-dimensional heat conduction in the wall and wick for an
asymmetrical flat plate heat pipe.
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Frozen Start Up
In some applications, heat pipes are required to transfer energy with the
working fluid initially in the solid phase. As heat transfer progresses,
the frozen working fluid melts, and the heat pipe undergoes a transition
to normal operation. To fully understand frozen start up, significant
efforts have been made toward numerical simulation of this process.
Early frozen start up research classified the frozen start up process into
six periods, as discussed earlier (Jang et al., 1990). These stages
describe the condition of the working fluid as solid, mushy, or liquid,
and the condition of the vapor flow as free molecular, partially
continuum, continuum transient, and continuum steady. In the
mathematical formulation by Jang et al. (1990), the heat transfer
through the free molecular vapor flow was neglected and the frozen
start up was solved in the wick and wall for the first two stages.
During the early start up period, the vapor density in the heat pipe
vapor space is extremely low and partly loses its continuum
characteristics. This condition is referred to as rarefied vapor flow.
During the early stage of start up, when the melting interface has
reached the wick-vapor interface, the liquid-vapor interface cannot be
considered to be adiabatic. Otherwise, there would be no molecular
vapor accumulation in the vapor space and the vapor would never reach
the continuum flow state. The rarefied vapor flow was simulated by a
self-diffusion model (Cao and Faghri, 1993b), where self-diffusion
refers to the interdiffusion of particles of the same species due to the
density gradient. This method has the advantage of modeling the heat
transfer through the rarefied vapor flow as coupled to the phase change
of the working fluid in the wick. However, this model is only valid for
the early stages of frozen start up.
A complete numerical simulation of frozen start up was completed
by Cao and Faghri (1993c) by combining the rarefied self-diffusion
model of Cao and Faghri (1993b) with the continuum transient model
of Cao and Faghri (1990). The model completely described frozen start
up, including the effects of conjugate heat transfer within the wall. Heat
transfer and fluid flow in the wick coupled to the vapor flow were
simulated. This methodology was applied to simulate the multipleevaporator high-temperature sodium/stainless-steel heat pipe studied by
Faghri et al. (1991a) shown in Fig. 37(a) and the single evaporator
sodium heat pipe of Ponnappan (1990) as shown in Fig. 37(b). The
comparison with the experimental data is excellent, and the location
and progression of the hot front is closely simulated as a function of
time.
As mentioned previously, it may not always be possible to initiate
frozen start up of a heat pipe. To address this difficulty, Cao and Faghri
(1992) derived a closed-form analytical expression to describe heat pipe
operation from frozen start up to continuum steady state. Also, a
criterion was derived for the frozen start up limitation. The analytical
model was derived under the assumption that the temperature profile at
any time can be represented by three linear temperature
approximations: one each in the hot and cold section of the heat pipe
and one across the hot-cold front. The results of the model are shown in
Fig. 38(a) when compared with the experimental frozen start up profiles
of Faghri et al. (1991a), and in Fig. 38(b) when compared with the data
of Ponnappan (1990).
It was determined that the frozen start up of a high-temperature
heat pipe depends on several factors, such as the difference between the
melting temperature of the working fluid and the ambient temperature,
the liquid density of the working fluid, the porosity of the wick, and the
physical dimensions of the heat pipe. These parameters were combined
into a nondimensional parameter, which is a measure of the frozen start
up ability of the heat pipe. This frozen start up limit (FSL) was
validated using different experimental cases. Determination of the
frozen start up limitation is one of the most significant contributions to
frozen start up heat pipe analysis in recent years. The limit provides a
fundamental design tool when considering heat pipe operation from a
frozen state (Cao and Faghri, 1992).
Fig. 35 Comparisons of predicted and measured transient vapor

temperatures (Zuo and Faghri, 1998).
A more detailed two-dimensional transient numerical analysis of
flat and cylindrical screen wick heat pipes was performed with no
empirical correlations by Rice and Faghri (2007), while including the
flow in the wick. Single and multiple heat sources were used as well as
constant, convective, and radiative heat sinks. The numerical model by
Rice and Faghri (2007) does not fix the internal pressure references by
a point, but allows it to rise and fall based on the physics of the
problem. Accordingly, the capillary pressure needed in the wick to
drive the flow was obtained for various heating configurations and
powers. These capillary pressures, in conjunction with an analysis that
predicts the maximum capillary pressure for a given heating load, were
used to determine the dry-out limitations of a heat pipe.
Special considerations need to be accounted for when considering
the interface between the wick and the vapor region because the vapor
interacts with the liquid in the wicks pores and the solid wick itself.
Figure 36 is a schematic of the vapor/wick interfacial region.
Transient models with couplings between the various layers (wall,
wick, and vapor) have successfully predicted the performance of heat
pipes under all operating conditions for porous wick structures by
neglecting the curvature effect at the liquid vapor interface. As heat
pipe size or wick thickness decreases in size in the micro ranges, mainly
for high thermal conductivity wicks, details of transport at the liquid
vapor interface may become important in determining the capillary
limit. Several efforts (Tournier and El-Genk (1994), Rice and Faghri
(2007), and Ranjan et al. (2011)) have been made to include the effect
of varying the radius of the curvature of the liquid meniscus formed in
the wick pores for a screen mesh wick in the full numerical simulation
of heat pipes for predicting the capillary limit.
Fig. 36 Schematic of (a) a wick/liquid/vapor interfacial region and (b)

an idealized single pore (Rice and Faghri, 2007).
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accounting for the local interfacial radius of the curvature of the liquid
meniscus.
Axially Grooved Heat Pipes

In the modeling of axially-grooved heat pipes (AGHP), the fluid
circulation should be considered along with the heat and mass transfer
processes during evaporation and condensation. Khrustalev and Faghri
(1995a) have developed a mathematical model for low-temperature
axially grooved heat pipes. The Khrustalev and Faghri (1995b) model
accounts for the heat transfer in the microfilm region, which is of
significant importance. Khrustalev and Faghri (1995a) modeled the heat
transfer through the liquid film and the fin between the grooves (Fig.
39) in both the evaporator and condenser with respect to the disjoining
pressure, interfacial thermal resistance and surface roughness, which
was not accounted for by previous investigators. In this model, heat
transfer processes in the heat pipe container and working fluid were
considered to be one-dimensional in the radial direction, thereby
neglecting the axial heat conduction. It was also assumed that no
puddle flow occurred in the AGHP, no part of the condenser was
blocked by the liquid working fluid, the liquid was distributed
uniformly between the grooves, and the fluid flow along the axis was
related to the capillary potential gradient, as described by the main
radius of curvature of the liquid in a groove.
The numerical model is an iterative mathematical procedure which
involved the following problems:
1. Heat transfer in the evaporating film on a rough surface.
2. Heat transfer in the condensate film on the fin top surface.
3. Heat conduction in a metallic fin and liquid meniscus.
4. Fluid circulation in the AGHP.
The first three problems have been presented in detail in by
Khrustalev and Faghri (1995b). These three interconnected problems
are included in the mathematical procedure along with the fluid
circulation equations presented by Khrustalev and Faghri (1995a).
Fig. 37 Wall temperature prediction for frozen start up by Cao and Faghri
(1993c) compared with the experimental data of (a) Faghri et al.
(1991a); (b) Ponnappan (1990) (Cao and Faghri, 1993c).
Fig. 38 Analytical wall temperature prediction for frozen start up by Cao

and Faghri (1992) compared with experimental data of a (a) Faghri
et al. (1991a); (b) Ponnappan (1990) (Cao and Faghri, 1992).
Fig. 39 Flat axially-grooved heat pipe cross-sections.

Khrustalev and Faghri (1995a) compared their numerical results
with the experimental data by Schlitt et al. (1974), who studied an
AGHP with the following geometry: Lt = 0.914 m, Lc = 0.152 m, 0.15
Le 0.343 m, W = 0.610 mm, Dg = 1.02 mm, L = 0.430 mm, Rv = 4.43
mm, Ro = 7.95 mm, = 0, N = 27, and tt = 0. The working fluids were
ammonia and ethane, and the container material thermal conductivity
was assumed to be kw = 170 W/(m-K). The longitudinal distribution of
the meniscus contact angle, which is influenced by the inclination angle
The aforementioned 2D models were quite successful and

accurately predicted the frozen startup of low and high temperature heat
pipes under various operating conditions by including both 2D free
molecular and continuum vapor core regimes and freezing and melting
phenomena by assuming flat liquid-vapor interface. Other frozen
startup simulation efforts (Hall et al. (1994) and Tournier and El-Genk
(1996)) were made by assuming 1-D vapor flow regimes, while
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and the fluid pressure variation (p), is shown in Fig. 40(a) for
ammonia (Le = 0.343 m, Tv = 250 K). For positive values of the
inclination angle (when the condenser end is elevated) the points of
minimum and maximum liquid surface curvature (the so-called dry
and wet points) were shifted from the ends of the heat pipe towards
the adiabatic section. As a result, the meniscus contact angle
distributions in the heat loaded sections were even more uniform than
those in the horizontal case. Note that the meniscus angles in the
condenser differ very slightly from the maximum value, and their
values in the evaporator can be almost the same as that in the condenser
for positive . The corresponding longitudinal distributions of the local
heat transfer coefficients in the evaporator and condenser and also wall
and vapor temperature variations are shown in Figs. 40(b) and 40(c).
The local heat transfer coefficient in the middle of the condenser was
about two times larger than that at the entrance or end cap, which
resulted in the external wall temperature variation shown in Fig. 40(c).
In the evaporator section, the variation of the local heat transfer
coefficient was weaker (for heat loads which are not close to the
maximum), so the wall temperature profile was very smooth. The
temperature drop along the vapor flow was less than 0.01 K.
Hopkins et al. (1999) for a flat miniature heat pipe with a micro
rectangular axial grooved wick structure.
(Hopkins et al., 1999)

Hopkins et al.s (1999) model
Do et al.s (2008) model
Fig. 41 Comparison of the model predictions with experimental data

((symbols) experimental data from Hopkins et al. (1999) and (lines)
numerical simulation results from the Do et al. (2008) model): (a)
maximum heat transport rate, and (b) wall temperature. (Adopted from
Do et al. (2008))
Thermosyphons
When applying the Nusselt theory to a closed, two-phase
thermosyphon, a variable vapor condensation rate must be considered.
This approach was taken by Spendel (1984), who modeled a
conventional thermosyphon condenser section with a two-dimensional
incompressible formulation in the vapor space and an application of the
Nusselt theory for the falling liquid film. With this model, Spendel
(1984) performed a limited parametric study on the importance of
including the interfacial shear stress and vapor pressure drop in
determining the falling film thickness and the resulting Nusselt number
for the thermosyphon. Based on these effects, the local Nusselt number
in the condenser of a thermosyphon can vary as much as 60% from the
approximate formulation derived by Nusselt.
An examination of conventional and concentric annular
thermosyphons was performed by Faghri et al. (1989a), by which an
improved flooding limit formulation was determined. Furthermore, in
this study, the effects of the empirically obtained interfacial shear stress
of the counterflowing vapor on the falling liquid film were considered
in the condenser section alone.
Harley and Faghri (1994b) coupled a general quasi-steady Nusselttype solution of the falling film with the complete two-dimensional
vapor solution to simulate the transient two-dimensional behavior of
thermosyphons with variable properties. This model is significantly
different from the previous models in that it simulates the entire
thermosyphon, rather than only the condenser section. A twodimensional transient formulation for the vapor is coupled with
unsteady heat conduction in the pipe wall. Furthermore, the quasisteady falling condensate film in the condenser, adiabatic, and
evaporator sections are simulated by accounting for the variable vapor
condensation rate, interfacial shear stress, and vapor pressure drop. The
Fig. 40 Performance characteristics of the ammonia-Al heat pipe (Tv =

250 K): (a) Meniscus contact angle and fluid pressure; (b) Local heat
transfer coefficients; (c) Wall and vapor temperatures (Khrustalev and
Faghri, 1995a).
Advances in modeling of enhanced flat miniature heat pipes with
capillary grooves were reviewed by Faghri and Khrustalev (1997).
Lefvre et al., (2010) extended the model by approximating the
temperature along the heat pipe using different thermal resistances in
their nodal model. The axial heat conduction cannot be neglected when
the heat pipe wall is thick and/or the operating temperature is in the
intermediate or high range. Do et al. (2008) extended the model by
Khrustalev and Faghri (1995a; 1995b) to include the axial heat
conduction along the heat pipe wall. The wall temperature profile and
maximum heat transport rate obtained from the model developed by Do
et al. (2008) are compared in Figure 41 with the experimental data of
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equations, however, this model can only be used in cases where heat
conduction in the wall is either dominant or negligible. Furthermore,
this formulation only models the condenser section where all properties
were assumed to be constant.
Harley and Faghri (1994a) coupled a general quasi-steady Nusselttype solution of the falling film with the complete two-dimensional
vapor-gas formulation to simulate the transient two-dimensional
behavior of gas-loaded thermosyphons with variable properties. This
formulation is significantly different from the previous models in that it
simulates the entire thermosyphon rather than only the condenser
section, using a two-dimensional transient formulation for the vapor
and gas that is coupled to unsteady heat conduction in the pipe wall.
Furthermore, this formulation models the quasi-steady falling
condensate film in the condenser, adiabatic, and evaporator sections
that accounts for the variable condensation rate, interfacial shear stress,
and vapor pressure drop.
Zuo and Gunnerson (1995) presented a numerical model of
inclined thermosyphon performance. Liquid-vapor interfacial shear
stress and the effects of working fluid inventory at various inclination
angles were included in the model. They analyzed limiting mechanisms
of the dryout and flooding and demonstrated that the model is capable
of predicting the performance of an inclined thermosyphon. A onedimensional steady-state mathematical model describing natural
circulation two-phase flow in a thermosyphon with a tube separator was
developed by Lin and Faghri (1997b). Void fraction distributions along
the thermosyphon were obtained under various operating conditions.
Liquid fill ratios for steady flow were suggested. Lin and Faghri
(1998b) numerically studied the hydrodynamic stability of natural
circulation two-phase flow in a high performance thermosyphon with
tube separator. The simulation results showed that the operating
temperature, the heat rate and thermosyphon inclination angle have
significant influence on the flow instability.
El-Genk and Saber (1999) developed a one-dimensional, steadystate model to determine the operation envelopes of closed, two-phase
thermosyphons in terms of dimensions, type, vapor temperature of
working fluid, and power throughput. The thermosyphon operationenvelope was an enclosure with three critical boundaries, related to
dryout, boiling, and flooding limits. The calculations showed that an
increase in the thermosyphon diameter, evaporator length, or vapor
temperature expanded the operation-envelope, while an increase in the
length of either the condenser or the adiabatic section only slightly
changed the envelopes upper and lower boundaries. Pan (2001)
presented a condensation model for a two-phase, closed thermosyphon
by considering the interfacial shear stress due to the mass transfer and
interfacial velocity. The relative velocity ratio and the momentum
transfer factor greatly affect the condensation heat transfer in the
thermosyphon. A sub-flooding limit was proposed to capture the
interaction between the condensation and evaporation in the
thermosyphon.
Jiao et al. (2008) developed a model to investigate the effect of the
filling ratio on the distribution of the liquid film and liquid pool. The
total heat transfer rate of the liquid pool, including natural convection
and nucleate boiling, was calculated by combining their effective areas
and heat transfer coefficients. The correlation for effective area was
obtained based on experimental results. The range for the filling ratio
was proposed for the steady and effective operation of the
thermosyphon based on analysis and comparison. The effects of heat
input, operating pressure, and geometries of the thermosyphon on the
range of the filling ratio were also discussed. Jiao et al. (2012) further
developed the model presented by Jiao et al. (2008) to investigate the
effect of the filling ratio on dryout, flooding and boiling limits. The
experiments were conducted using nitrogen as working fluid and the
experimental results were compared with the calculations. The
maximum filling ratio was introduced, beyond which the heat transfer
performance could be declined due to the accumulation of the liquid in
numerical results of Harley and Faghri (1994b) were compared with the
experimental data of Mingwei et al. (1991).
The transient axial variations of the outer wall and centerline vapor
temperatures are shown in Fig. 42(b), where the agreement with the
steady-state experimental data of Mingwei et al. (1991) is quite good.
The transient centerline axial vapor velocities for this low-temperature
case are small and the axial pressure drop is negligible. The low axial
vapor velocity is due in part to both the relatively high vapor density
and latent heat of water and the low heat flux input to the evaporator.
Obviously, compressibility is not a factor for the low-temperature
thermosyphon because the maximum Mach number is much less than
0.3. The negligible axial pressure variation is typical of lowtemperature two-phase heat transfer devices due to the low vapor
velocities.
Fig. 42 Transient temperature profiles for the low-temperature

thermosyphon experimentally studied by Mingwei et al. (1991): (a)
transient outer wall temperature profiles; (b) transient centerline vapor
temperature profiles (Harley and Faghri, 1994b).
The condensation process is affected by the presence of a small
amount of noncondensible gas in a thermosyphon. During normal
operation, the noncondensible gas is swept to the condenser by the
vapor, which partially blocks the condenser section. This blockage
reduces the area available for the heat transfer. Gas-loaded
thermosyphons were studied by Hijikata et al. (1984), where a steady
two-dimensional model that neglected heat conduction through the wall
and falling liquid film was developed. However, since only the
condenser section of the thermosyphon was modeled, a complex system
of boundary conditions with several different empirical parameters was
required. The behavior of the noncondensible gas was described by a
modified two-dimensional steady-state species equation.
A more complete model of the condenser section of a gas-loaded
thermosyphon was developed by Kobayashi and Matsumoto (1987).
This two-dimensional steady-state model accounts for diffusion across
the vapor-gas interface but neglects the falling film and axial heat
conduction through the pipe wall.
Peterson and Tien (1989) extended the steady-state model of
Hijikata et al. (1984) by accounting for the effect of heat conduction in
the pipe wall. Due to the integral simplification of the governing
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(2010) developed numerical and analytical analysis for miniature high

temperature rotating heat pipes for applications in gas turbine cooling.
condenser end. The sensitivity of the operation range to the operating

pressure and geometries were also analyzed.
Rotating Heat Pipes

The rotating heat pipe concept was first proposed by Gray (1969), who
showed that such a rotating heat pipe can transfer significantly more
heat than a similar stationary heat pipe.
Faghri et al. (1993) performed a rotating heat pipe vapor flow
analysis by using a two-dimensional axisymmetric formulation to
determine the influence of the rotation rate on the vapor pressure drop
and interfacial shear stresses. They found that pressure drop and shear
stress correlations for conventional heat pipes do not apply in rotating
heat pipes as the vapor flow profiles are significantly different from the
patterns seen in stationary heat pipes. However, that model did not
consider heat transfer in the pipe wall or the counterflowing liquid film.
Harley and Faghri (1995) developed a detailed transient numerical
simulation of rotating heat pipes, including the thin liquid condensable
film, vapor flow, and heat conduction in the pipe wall.
The complete rotating heat pipe simulation was done by Harley and
Faghri (1995) for the heat pipe experimentally studied by Daniels and
Al-Juimaily (1975) for a heat input of Q = 800 W and a rotational rate
of = 600 rpm. The dimensions of this heat pipe were Lt = 0.325 m, Le
= 0.05 m, La = 0.123 m, Lc = 0.152 m, Rv = 0.02125 m, Ro = 0.02650
m, and = 2 deg. The heat pipe wall was copper and the working fluid
was Freon-113. A true comparison with actual data was impossible due
to the assumption for the outer heat transfer coefficient. An
approximate heat transfer coefficient (600 W/m2-K) was determined
from an examination of the wall temperature profile given by Daniels
and Al-Juimaily (1975). Because both the wall temperature and total
heat input were given, the assumption of an ambient temperature is
needed to obtain the external convective heat transfer coefficient.
The axial variation of the outer wall temperature is shown in Fig.
43(a). This assumed heat transfer coefficient resulted in the isothermal
operation of the rotating heat pipe, which can be seen in Fig. 43(b),
where the centerline vapor temperature is nearly constant along the
length of the rotating heat pipe. Daniels and Al-Jumaily (1975)
determined the vapor temperature with two pressure transducers located
on the centerline at the two end caps, where the vapor was assumed to
be saturated. As can be seen in Fig. 43(b), the assumption of a saturated
vapor is valid because the vapor velocity is low enough to neglect
compressibility effects.
Lin and Faghri (1997a) investigated the flow behavior and the
related heat transfer characteristics of stratified flow in axially rotating
heat pipes with cylindrical and stepped wall configurations using
theoretical and semi-empirical models. The predicted results and
experimental data showed a good agreement. Lin and Faghri (1997c)
presented a mathematical model of the hydrodynamic performance of a
rotating miniature heat pipe (RMHP) with a grooved inner wall surface.
Influences of operating temperature, rotational speed, and liquid-vapor
interfacial shear stress on the maximum performance and optimum
liquid fill amount were discussed. Pressure drops of the axial liquid
flow and vapor flow were demonstrated.
The region of hysteretic annular flow in rotating stepped wall heat
pipes was experimentally determined by Lin and Faghri (1998a). A
model for predicting the condensation heat transfer coefficient was also
proposed and the theoretical results were compared with experimental
data. Lin and Faghri (1999) developed a theoretical model that
describes the evaporating film flow in a rotating miniature heat pipe
with an axial triangular grooved internal surface. The theory of thin
liquid film vaporization heat transfer was used to predict the
evaporation heat transfer in the micro region. The effects of disjoining
pressure, surface tension, and centrifugal force on the flow are
discussed. It was concluded that the influence of rotational speed on the
evaporation heat transfer in the micro region can be neglected.
Therefore, the heat transfer analysis in the micro region at zero
rotational speed can be applied to the case of rotational operation. Cao
Fig. 43 Numerical simulation of the low-temperature rotating heat

pipe: (a) transient outer pipe wall temperatures; (b) transient
centerline vapor temperatures (Harley and Faghri, 1995).
All of the aforementioned analyses focused on a pure vapor flow
with no noncondensible gases in the rotating heat pipe core. Harley and
Faghri (2000) accounted for the noncondensible gas, the vapor pressure
drop, the thin liquid film, the interfacial shear stress, and the heat
conduction in the pipe wall of a rotating heat pipe without the need for
specifying condenser inlet conditions. The problem is solved as a
conjugate coupled heat transfer problem. A parametric study was also
presented to determine the influence of rotational speed, heat input and
output, and the mass of noncondensible gas on a rotating heat pipe.
Loop Heat Pipes

Various numerical and analytical models have been developed in order
to understand the fundamental mechanisms of thermal and
hydrodynamic couplings between LHP components, as well as to
quantitatively predict the LHP operational characteristics. Most of the
models are based on energy and pressure balances written for each
component of the LHP. Some examples of steady-state LHP modeling
studies are Maydanik et al. (1994), Kaya and Hoang (1999), Hoang and
Kaya (1999), Kaya and Ku (1999), Muraoka et al. (2001), Kaya and Ku
(2003), Hamdan (2003), Chuang (2003), Furukawa (2006), Kaya and
Goldak (2006), and Launay et al. (2007c; 2008). Transient LHP
modeling efforts include Cullimore and Bauman (2000), Hoang and Ku
(2003), Launay et al. (2007a; 2007b), Kaya et al. (2008), Chernysheva
and Maydanik (2008), and Khrustalev (2010).
LHP transient modeling of two-phase systems with capillary
evaporators using a Thermal Desktop was pioneered by Cullimore and
Bauman (2000) and extended by Khrustalev (2010) to upgraded loop
heat pipe systems with complex radiators, multiple components, and
varying environmental conditions. Launay et al. (2008) proposed
separate closed-form solutions for two distinct LHP operating modes:
the variable conductance mode (VCM), and the fixed conductance
mode (FCM). These modes are exhibited on an experimentally
observed LHP operating curve, depicting the operating temperature
(usually represented by the compensation chamber temperature or
evaporator temperature) versus the heat input. These models are also
linked to the distribution of the condenser heat transfer area: one part is
used for condensation, and the other is for liquid subcooling.
In terms of the closed-form solutions, the LHP operating
temperature can be easily calculated as a function of the heat input. In
Figs. 44 and 45, predictions by full numerical simulation and simplified
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1987a; 1987b; Chalmers et al., 1988; Ku et al., 1988; Benner et al.,

1989; Schweickart and Buchko, 1991; Ku, 1993). Some analytical
studies concerning the complex transient phenomena of startup have
been conducted (Cullimore, 1991).
closed-form solutions, are compared with experimental measurements

for two LHP designs (Chuang, 2003; Boo and Chung, 2004) using
acetone and ammonia as the working fluids, respectively. It appears that
the relative difference between the full numerical simulation and
closed-form solutions peaks at the transition between the VCM and
FCM; however, the maximum difference is less than 15%. The general
agreement of the modeling predictions with the experimental data
validates both the model and closed-form solutions as useful tools for
possible LHP designs. A recent review of the fundamentals, operation,
and design of loop heat pipes was given by Ambirajan et al. (2012).
Micro Heat Pipes

Khrustalev and Faghri (1994) developed a detailed mathematical model
which allows the examination of the heat and mass transfer processes in
a micro heat pipe (MHP). The model gave the distribution of the liquid
in a micro heat pipe and its thermal characteristics as a function of the
liquid charge and the applied heat load. The liquid flow in the
triangular-shaped corners of a micro heat pipe with a polygonal cross
section is considered by accounting for the variation of the curvature of
the free liquid surface and the interfacial shear stresses due to liquidvapor interaction. The predicted results are compared to existing
experimental data. The importance of the liquid fill, minimum wetting
contact angle, and the shear stresses at the liquid-vapor interface in
predicting the maximum heat transfer capacity and thermal resistance of
the micro heat pipe is demonstrated.
Fig. 44 Comparison of LHP modeling predictions (Launay et al.,

2008) with experimental results (Boo and Chung, 2004) for acetone as
the working fluid (Launay et al., 2008).
Fig. 45 Comparison of LHP modeling predictions (Launay et al.,

2008) with experimental results (Chuang, 2003) for ammonia as the
working fluid (Launay et al., 2008).
Capillary Pumped Loop Heat Pipes

Fig. 46 Maximum heat transfer versus operating temperature: (a)
Copper-water MHP; (b) Silver-water MHP (Khrustalev and Faghri,
1994).
There are three approaches related to the analysis of CPLs. The first
approach is to examine the heat transfer without including the fluid
flow analysis in the wick or vapor regions of the evaporator (Kiper et
al., 1990). Since an analytical approach was used for solving the energy
equation instead of a numerical approach, approximations were made in
the solution procedure. It should be noted that the fluid flow problem is
of significant importance in the evaporator and no meaningful
conclusions can be made without a combined fluid flow and heat
transfer analysis. This approach also included a lumped analysis of the
evaporator and subcooler, in which an exponential temperature profile
was assumed in the analysis. A second approach included a detailed and
accurate analysis of the evaporator component for steady and transient
performance, based on solving the complete differential forms of the
momentum and energy equations (Cao and Faghri, 1994b; 1994c). This
methodology is the most appropriate technique for analyzing the CPL
system. The third approach is related to an overall system simulation
using existing semi-empirical correlations under 1 g conditions to
calculate the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients in different
parts of the CPL (Kroliczek et al., 1984; Ku et al., 1986a; 1986b;
The comparison of the numerical results (Khrustalev and Faghri,

1994) and the experimental data reported by Wu and Peterson (1991)
for the maximum heat transfer capacity are shown in Fig. 46 for micro
heat pipes with copper and silver casings. While the data for the
minimum contact angles are contradictory and can be influenced by
many physical factors, the numerical results are presented for men,min=
33, 38 and 45. The experimental results of the onset of dryout and
the present numerical prediction show a good agreement. Neglecting
the shear stress at the free surface of the liquid due to liquid-vapor
frictional interaction (no shear stress in Fig. 46) can lead to an
overestimation of the maximum heat transfer capacity. The shear stress
at the free liquid surface influences the liquid distribution along the
heat pipe, which can result in an increase of the liquid locking of the
condenser end, compared to the case of neglecting this shear stress.
Sartre et al. (2000) and Suman and Kumar (2005) extended
Khrustalev and Faghris model (1994) to include heat conduction in the
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sensible heat; not due to the latent heat of vaporization. Latent heat
served only to drive the oscillating flow. Sakulchangsatjatai et al.
(2004) applied Shafii et al.s model (2001) to model closed-end and
closed-loop PHPs as an oscillating two-phase heat and mass transfer in
a straight pipe, while neglecting the thin liquid film between the vapor
plug and the pipe wall.
Zhang et al. (2002) analytically investigated oscillatory flow in a
U-shaped miniature channel-a building block of PHPs. A significant
difference between this model and other mathematical models is the
nondimensionalizing of the governing equations. Flow in the tube was
described by two dimensionless parameters, the non-dimensional
temperature difference and the evaporation and condensation heat
transfer coefficients. It was found that both the initial displacement of
the liquid slug and gravity had no effect on the amplitude and angular
frequency of the oscillation. In addition, the amplitude and frequency of
oscillation were increased by increasing the dimensionless temperature
difference. The amplitude and frequency of oscillation were correlated
to the heat transfer coefficients and temperature difference.
Zhang and Faghri (2003) investigated oscillatory flow in a
closed-end pulsating heat pipe with an arbitrary number of turns (see
Fig. 48). The results showed that for a PHP with few turns (less than 6),
the amplitude and frequency of oscillation were independent of the
number of turns. The motion of the vapor plugs was identical for odd
numbered plugs once a steady state had been reached. Even numbered
plugs also exhibited identical motion. Odd and even numbered plugs
had the same amplitude, but were out of phase by a factor of . As the
number of turns increased above 6, the odd and even numbered plugs
no longer showed identical oscillation. Each plug lagged slightly
behind the next. Each plug remained out of phase by , however. (see
Fig. 49).
wall to simulate micro heat pipes of polygonal shapes. Wang and

Peterson (2002) and Launay et al. (2004b) have improved Khrustalev
and Faghris model (1994) to simulate arrays of micro heat pipes made
of several alluminim wires bounded between two aluminum sheets.
Pulsating Heat Pipes

Since slug flow is the primary flow pattern in PHPs, most existing
efforts on modeling have focused on slug flow. Miyazaki and Akachi
(1996) proposed a simple analytical model of self-exciting oscillation
based on an oscillating feature observed during experimentation. The
reciprocal excitation of pressure oscillation due to changes in the heat
transfer rate caused by the oscillation of the void fraction was
investigated. Oscillation of the void fraction was out of phase with the
pressure oscillation by -/2. This model indicates that an optimal charge
ratio exists for a particular PHP. If the charge ratio is too high, the PHP
will experience a gradual pressure increase followed by a sudden drop.
Insufficient charging will cause chaotic pressure fluctuation. However,
proper charging will generate a symmetrical pressure wave.
Miyazaki and Akachi (1998) derived the wave equation of
pressure oscillation in the PHP based on the self-excited oscillation, in
which the reciprocal excitation between the pressure oscillation and
void fraction was accounted for. Miyazaki and Arikawa (1999)
investigated the oscillatory flow in the PHP and then measured the
wave velocity, which fairly agreed with the predictions of Miyazaki and
Akachis model (1998). Hosoda et al. (1999) reported a simplified
numerical model of a PHP, in which temperature and pressure were
calculated by solving the momentum and energy equations for twodimensional, two-phase flow. However, the thin liquid film that
surrounds a vapor plug on the tube wall and the friction between the
tube and the working fluid were neglected. Experimental results were
used as initial conditions for the model. The numerical results for
pressure in the PHP were higher than the experimental results;
however, the model showed that the propagation of vapor plugs
induced fluid flow in the capillary tubes.
Zuo et al. (Zuo et al., 1999; 2001) attempted to model the PHP by
comparing it to an equivalent single spring-mass-damper system, with
the parameters of the system affected by heat transfer. Zuo et al. (2001)
showed that the spring stiffness increases with increasing time, and
therefore, the amplitude of oscillation must decrease with increasing
time; this is in contradiction with steady oscillations observed in PHP
operation. Wong et al. (1999) modeled an open-loop PHP by
considering it as a multiple spring-mass-damper system with the flow
modeled under adiabatic conditions for the entire PHP. A sudden
pressure pulse was applied to simulate local heat input into a vapor
plug.
Fig. 48 Open-loop PHP with arbitrary turns (N=5) (Zhang and Faghri,
2003).
Dobson and Harms (1999) investigated a PHP with two open
ends. The open ends were parallel and pointed in the same direction.
These ends were submerged in water, while the evaporator section was
coiled and attached to a float so that it remained out of the water. The
evaporator was heated and the oscillatory fluid motion produced a net
thrust. A numerical solution of the energy equation and the equation of
motion for a vapor plug was presented to predict the plugs
temperature, position and velocity. Oscillatory motion in the PHP
generated a net average thrust of 0.0027N. Heat transfer due to sensible
heat was not taken into account. Dobson (2004; 2005) proposed the use
of open-ended PHP in conjunction with two check valves to pump
water; however, the maximum attainable mass flow rates are on the
order of mg/s, which is hardly enough to irrigate fields. An improved
model for liquid slug oscillation that considered pressure difference,
friction, gravity, and surface tension was also presented.
Fig. 47 Pulsating heat pipes: (a) Open-loop, (b) Closed-loop (Shafii et

al., 2001).
Shafii et al. (2001) developed a theoretical model to simulate the
behavior of liquid slugs and vapor plugs in both closed- and open-loop
PHPs with two turns (see Fig. 47). The model solved for the pressure,
temperature, plug position and heat transfer rates. The most significant
conclusion was that the majority of the heat transfer (95%) is due to
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indicated that the isentropic bulk modulus generates stronger

oscillations than the isothermal bulk modulus. While it demonstrated
that the capillary pipe diameter, bubble size, length and the number of
unit cells determine the oscillation, the capillary force, gravitational
force, and initial pressure distribution of the working fluid significantly
affects the frequency and amplitude of oscillating motion in the
capillary tube. Ma et al. (2002; 2006) analytically described the
oscillating motion by performing force balances of the thermally driven,
capillary, frictional, and elastic restoring forces on a liquid slug.
Pressure differences between the evaporator and the condenser were
related to the temperature difference between the evaporator and the
condenser by the Clapeyron-Clausius equation. The temperature
difference between the evaporator and the condenser of the PHP was
utilized as a driving force of the oscillating motion. Ma et al. (2006)
concluded that oscillating motion depends on the charge ratio, total
characteristic length, diameter, temperature difference between the
evaporation and condenser sections, and the working fluid and
operating temperature. When compared to experimental results, the
mathematical model under-predicted the temperature difference
between the evaporator and condenser when compared to experimental
results (Ma et al., 2002).
Holley and Faghri (2005) presented a numerical model for a PHP
with a sintered copper capillary wick and with flow channels that have
different diameters. The effects of the varying channel diameters,
inclination angles, and the number of parallel channels were presented.
When a channel was of a smaller diameter, it induced circulation of the
fluid, which in turn increased the heat load capability of the PHP. The
modeled PHP performed better in bottom heat mode (smaller
temperature differential) than in top heat mode. Varying the mean
Nusselt number had little effect on the PHP performance. As the
number of parallel channels increased, its heat load capability
increased, and the PHPs sensitivity to gravity decreased.
Khandekar et al. (2002) used an Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
to predict the PHP performance. The ANN was of the fully connected
feed forward configuration, and was trained using 52 sets of
experimental data from a closed-loop PHP. The ANN was fed the heat
input and fill ratio of each data set and then calculated the effective
thermal resistance of the PHP. The ANN model predicted the thermal
performance for this type of PHP but neglected many parameters that
affect PHP performance, including tube diameter, number of parallel
channels, length of the PHP, inclination angle, and properties of the
working fluid. If the ANN had more input nodes with which to consider
these parameters, it would be a more effective model. Even then it
would require considerably well-organized experimental data for the
ANN to be effective.
Khandekar and Gupta (2007) modeled heat transfer in a radiator
plate with an embedded PHP using a commercial package FLUENT.
However, oscillatory flow and heat transfer of the PHP were not
modeled in this investigation. The contribution of the PHP on the heat
transfer in the radiator plate was considered using an effective thermal
conductivity obtained from the experiment. Zhang and Faghri (2008)
made a detailed review of pulsating heat pipe analysis. Khandekar et al.
(2010) presented the experimental and theoretical methodologies to
predict hydrodynamic characteristics in unidirectional two-phase Taylor
bubble flows and recommended directions for further research on
modeling of pulsating heat pipes.
Fig. 49 Displacement of liquid slugs (N=10) (Zhang et al., 2002).

Zhang and Faghri (2002) proposed models for heat transfer in the
evaporator and condenser sections of a PHP with one open end by
analyzing thin film evaporation and condensation. Heat transfer in the
evaporator is the sum of evaporative heat transfer in the thin liquid film
and at the meniscus. Heat transfer in the condenser is similarly
calculated, and sensible heat transfer to the liquid slug is also
considered. It is found that the overall heat transfer is dominated by the
exchange of sensible heat, not by the exchange of latent heat. Shafii et
al. (2002) further developed their earlier numerical model (Shafii et al.,
2001) by including an analysis of the evaporation and condensation
heat transfer in the thin liquid film separating the liquid and vapor
plugs. Both open- and closed-loop PHPs were considered, and each
displayed similar results. As shown in Fig. 50, the total heat transfer is
due mainly to the exchange of sensible heat (~95%). Total heat transfer
slightly increases as the surface tension of the working fluid increases.
The total heat transfer significantly decreases with decreased heating
section wall temperature. Increasing the diameter of the tube results in a
higher total heat transfer.
Gas-Loaded Heat Pipes

Noncondensible gas-buffered heat pipes (NCHPs) offer isothermal
operation for varying heat loads by changing the overall thermal
resistance of the heat pipe. As the heat load increases, the vapor
temperature and total pressure increase in the heat pipe. This increase in
total pressure compresses the noncondensible gas in the condenser,
thereby increasing the surface area available for heat transfer. This
maintains a constant heat flux and temperature. NCHP operation can
Fig. 50 Heat transfer rate: (a) sensible heat; (b) evaporative heat (Shafii
et al., 2002).
Liang and Ma (2004) presented a mathematical model describing
the oscillation characteristics of slug flow in a capillary tube. In
addition to the modeling of oscillating motion, numerical results
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also be examined through the partial vapor pressure. As the heat input
increases, the total pressure increases. However, because the total
pressure is comprised of both the partial vapor and partial gas
pressures, the increase in total pressure is accounted for by an increase
in the partial gas pressure, maintaining a constant vapor pressure, and
thus a constant vapor temperature.
Noncondensible gas-buffered heat pipes have been modeled
previously with several different levels of approximation. The classic
flat-front analytical model of Marcus and Fleishman (1970) neglected
all diffusion across the vapor-gas interface. Later studies modeled onedimensional steady diffusion (Edwards and Marcus, 1972) and onedimensional transient diffusion (Shukla, 1981). Rohani and Tien (1973)
studied the steady-state two-dimensional diffusion process in a
noncondensible gas-buffered heat pipe. The importance of modeling
radial diffusion in a NCHP was demonstrated where the
noncondensible gas tends to accumulate at the liquid-vapor interface,
which retards vapor condensation. However, Rohani and Tien (1973)
neglected the effect of conjugate heat transfer through the wall as well
as transient effects. The importance of the transient response of a
NCHP was shown by Shukla (1981), as transient thermal overshoots
were discovered. This study, however, did not include the effects of
radial heat conduction in the wall or wick or the radial diffusion effects
of the noncondensible gas.
Harley and Faghri (1994c) studied the two-dimensional, transient
NCHP operation, including the effects of conjugate heat transfer
through the wall, and is modeled through a solution of the general
differential conservation equations. This procedure was used to
simulate the high-temperature heat pipe experimentally studied both
with and without noncondensible gases. The major advantage over
previous models was that this model treats the noncondensible gas as a
separate entity that is described by mass transport phenomena.
Additionally, the energy transport through the wall is coupled to the
transient operation of the heat pipe through the use of a conjugate
solution technique. The complete behavior of the heat pipe, along with
the location and two-dimensional shape of the noncondensible gas
front, are modeled from the initial continuum-flow, liquid-state start up
to steady-state conditions. The proposed model by Harley and Faghri
(1994c) predicted the existing experimental data for the operation of
high-temperature heat pipes with and without noncondensible gases.
The gas-loaded heat pipe experimentally studied by Ponnappan (1989)
was simulated (Case 2), with results shown in Figs. 51 and 52. This
case has a higher radiative emissivity than Case 1, which results in a
decrease in the thermal resistance at the outer condenser surface. In the
experiment performed by Ponnappan (1989), the emissivity was
increased when the noncondensible gas was added, so that a nearconstant operationg temperature (compared with Case 1) could be
maintained. In Fig. 51, the wall and vapor temperatures decreased
significantly in the condenser section due to the presence of the
noncondensible gas. The gas density increased in the condenser during
transient operation, as shown in Fig. 52(a). The steady-state wall
temperature is in good agreement with the data by Ponnappan (1989).
A transient lumped heat pipe formulation for conventional heat
pipes is presented, and the lumped analytical solutions for different
boundary conditions at the evaporator and condenser are given by
Faghri and Harley (1994). For high temperature heat pipes with a
radiative boundary condition at the condenser, a nonlinear ordinary
differential equation is solved. In an attempt to reduce computational
demands, a transient lumped conductive model was developed for
noncondensible gas-loaded heat pipes. The lumped flat-front transient
model was extended by accounting for axial heat conduction across the
sharp vapor-gas interface. The analytical solutions for conventional and
gas-loaded heat pipes were compared with the corresponding numerical
results of the full two-dimensional conservation equations and
experimental data, showing a good agreement.
Fig. 51 Temperature profiles for the gas-loaded heat pipe with Qin =
258 W (Case 2): (a) transient wall temperature profile; (b)
transient centerline temperature profile (Harley and Faghri,
1994c).
Fig. 52 Vapor-gas dynamics for the gas-loaded heat pipe with Qin =
451 W (Case 2): (a) transient centerline gas density profile; (b)
transient centerline axial velocity profiles (Harley and Faghri,
1994c).
11. HEAT PIPE APPLICATIONS

Heat pipes have been applied in many ways since their introduction in
1964 (Vasiliev, 2005; Mochizuki et al., 2011). Depending on their
intended use, heat pipes can operate over a temperature range from 4.0
to 3000 K. In all cases, their applications can be divided into three main
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Presently, almost all laptop/notebook computers use a heat pipe remote

categories: separation of heat source and sink, temperature equalization,
heat exchanger (RHE), where a heat pipe is used to transfer heat from
and temperature control. Due to their extremely high thermal
the processor to the heat exchanger. Heat pipes have been an important
conductivity, heat pipes can efficiently transport heat from a
part of laptop/notebook computer cooling systems and will remain so
concentrated source to a remotely mounted sink. This property can
for the foreseeable future. Figure 53 shows a simplified typical layout
enable dense packing of electronics, for example, without undue regard
of a heat pipe remote heat exchanger for laptop/notebook computers,
for heat sink space requirements. Another benefit of the high thermal
using the heat pipe embedded inside a metal block (CPU case) over the
conductivity is the ability to provide an accurate method of temperature
silicon (die). For simplicity, a single heat sink is shown in Fig. 53 to
equalization. For example, a heat pipe mounted between two opposing
illustrate the concept of thermal resistance optimization for personal
faces of an orbiting platform will enable both faces to maintain constant
computers.
with equal temperatures, thus minimizing thermal stresses. The
The overall thermal resistance of this system is presented by the
temperature control is a result of the capability of heat pipes to
following equation:
transport large quantities of heat very rapidly. This feature enables a
source of varying flux to be kept at a constant temperature as long as
T j T Tsys
the heat flux extremes are within the operating range of=
the heat pipe.
Q Heat
=
dissipation (W )
R j
Electronic and Electrical Equipment Cooling

where
Miniaturization of electronic components is accompanied by increased

demands on heat dissipation systems due to the increased density of the
components. For example, the digital computer has evolved from a
massive system that filled an entire room to a unit which can be stored
in a small briefcase. However, the overheating problems associated
with the dense packing of heat-generating integrated circuit chips used
in the computer (CPU and GPU Cooling) have escalated dramatically.
Since the reliability of these and other types of electronic components is
sensitive to their operating temperature, steps have been taken to
improve heat dissipation by using heat pipes. Other applications to
electronic cooling have included rectifiers, thyristors, transistors,
traveling wave collectors, audio and RF amplifiers and high density
semiconductor packages.
Rj- = RSi + RTIM + Re + Rc + Ra + RHT-

Tj = Junction temperature [C]
T = Ambient temperature [C]
Tsys = Impact of other energy sources in the system [C]
Rj- = Thermal resistance of the CPU die to ambient [C/W]
RSi = Thermal resistance of silicon (microprocessor package) [C/W]
RTIM = Thermal resistance through thermal interface material (TIM)
[C/W]
Re, Rc, Ra = The thermal resistances for the evaporator, condenser, and
adiabatic section of the heat pipe, respectively.
RHT- = Thermal resistance of heat exchanger to ambient [C/W]
The thermal resistances of both the evaporator and condenser sections
of the heat pipe are much higher than the adiabatic sections. Figure 54
(Machiroutu et al., 2006) shows a simple pie chart with fractional
distributions of various thermal resistances for a heat pipe remote heat
exchanger technology for laptop computers. Machiroutu et al. (2006)
also showed that the overall thermal resistances presented in Fig. 54
can be reduced by 17% by reducing the thermal resistances of the
evaporator and condenser sections.
Mochizuki et al. (2007) presented the various typical CPU thermal
resistances versus heat dissipation (Fig. 55) by assuming a junction
temperature of 100C, outside ambient temperature of 35C, and a
system temperature rise of 10C. Mochizuki et al. (2006) presented a
number of potential future cooling technologies for higher power
cooling chips, including vapor chambers and loop heat pipes (LHPs)
for desktop computers and servers. Figure 56 (Mochizuki et al., 2006)
fins are soldered directly to the vapor chamber and proposed to replace
the solid copper metal interface heat spreaders (IHS) with a two-phase
micro-channel vapor chamber. Wu et al. (2011) proposed a cold energy
storage system using wickless thermosyphons for cooling large scale
data centers (8800 kW).
Annular heat pipes are proposed for use in the fusing units of copy
machines by some copy machine manufacturers as heat drums for fast
thermal response and uniform fusing (Jalilvand et al., 2006). The
proposed annular heat pipe is composed of two unequal diameters,
where the evaporation and condensation is separated in the radial
direction so that the heat is transferred in the radial direction.
While miniaturization is not a significant factor in large-scale electrical
equipment, the application of heat pipes to this area is important due to
the increase in efficiency when the components operate at lower
temperatures (Oslejsek and Polasek, 1976; Giessler et al., 1987;
Momose et al., 1987; Alonso and Perez, 1990).
Electric motors have been designed which incorporate heat pipes
around the periphery of the rotor for cooling during operation. Another
design replaced the solid motor shaft with an on-axis rotating heat pipe
with an internal taper for cooling. These designs removed heat from the
interior of the electric motor so that the bearings operated at a lower
temperature, which increased efficiency. Also, since the resistance of
Fig. 53 Remote heat exchanger using a heat pipe embedded in a block

for a laptop computer.
After the introduction of the Pentium processor in 1993, the processor
performance and power consumption trend has significantly increased
annually. In the year 2000, the heat flux was approximately 10-15
W/cm2, eventually reaching 120-150 W/cm in 2010. The average
power consumption for laptop/notebook computers is currently between
25-50 W, while desktops and servers consume between 80 and 150 W.
Regardless of components, power level, or type of computer/processor,
as electronics are packed into smaller volumes, it is important to
optimize the thermal management components with higher cooling
rates.
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the electric windings decreases with temperature, less power was

required to maintain a particular load. Similarly, circuit breakers and
electric transformers designed with heat pipe cooling benefit from the
decrease in internal temperature.
Energy Systems
With home heating costs increasing, more attention has been focused
on the use of heat pipes to collect solar energy (Bienert, 1973; Roberts,
1978). A relatively simple design incorporates a bank of inclined
thermosyphons exposed to the south side of a residence. Solar energy is
absorbed and transported into the living space, where it is convected to
the interior air or stored in a water tank for later use. During the night,
the thermosyphons essentially act as thermal diodes, since the only way
heat can be transferred from the interior to the outside is by axial
conduction through the pipe walls. A similar design can be used for
desalinating sea water using solar energy. In this application, however,
a heat pipe would be positioned at the focal point of a trough-shaped
parabolic reflector in order to generate the high temperatures and heat
fluxes necessary for desalination.
Singh et al. (2011) presented the design and characteristics of
various energy conservation systems and renewable energy systems
utilizing heat pipes as the thermal control mechanism. A wide range of
energy systems including data center cooling, agricultural products cold
storage, bakery waste heat recovery and automotive dashboard cooling
were discussed. It was argued that zero emission and economical
advantages can be achieved by using thermosyphon and capillary
pumped loop.
Concentrating photovoltaic (PV) systems use low-cost optical
systems such as the Fresnel lens, a mini-reflecting mirror that can
concentrate solar intensity from 200 to 1000 suns. The concentrated
solar energy delivered from the solar cell is from 20 to 100W/cm. Part
of the energy is directly converted to electricity, while the remainder is
removed as waste heat. Heat pipe cooling systems (Fig. 57) were
developed to passively remove the high heat flux at the PV cell and
reject it to the ambient by natural convection (Akbarzadeh and
Wadowski, 1996; Gi and Maezawa, 2006; Anderson et al., 2008).
Heat transfer devices and methodologies for novel thermal energy
storage systems (TES) for various applications including concentrating
solar power (CSP) generation systems using latent heat phase change
materials (PCMs) are in great demand in the energy field. However,
latent heat thermal energy storage PCMs, despite their great potential,
suffer from low thermal conductivity. Faghri (1990; 1991) invented two
methods (Figs. 58 and 59) to significantly increase the thermal
conductivity of PCMs by embedding micro or conventional heat pipes
in the PCM for applications in thermal energy storage systems and heat
exchangers.
Fig. 54 Pie chart showing component thermal resistances of a heat pipe

remote heat exchanger for a laptop PC (Machiroutu et al., 2006).
Fig. 55 Various typical CPU thermal resistances versus heat dissipation

(Mochizuki et al., 2007).
Fig. 56 Thermal solution integration for desktop and servers

(Mochizuki et al., 2006).
Underground power transmission cables that are placed close to hot
water or steam pipes are sometimes subjected to limitations in the
maximum permissible current due to thermal interference. Therefore, it
is advantageous to place maintenance-free cooling systems using heat
pipes at these locations. Several heat pipes are placed at the hot spot
along the direction of the cable, which are bent so that the condenser
sections are above ground or in the soil away from the heated section
(Iwata et al., 1984). The two methods of removing heat, either by
natural convection to the atmosphere or by conduction to the soil,
provide sufficient cooling so that higher current loads are capable of
being provided to the user.
Fig. 57 Solar house which has an energy collection mechanism (Gi and
Maezawa, 2006).
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1.0 kW and 50% efficiency generates 1.0 kW of waste heat. This heat
may be dissipated by convection, conduction, radiation or phase
change. The heat generated in a fuel cell stack may be dumped to the
atmosphere, but often, it is used in other system components that
require heat. In some cases, the heat is used to run a thermodynamic
cycle for additional power generation. Heat pipes can be utilized in fuel
cell systems for thermal management purposes which allow for
effective use of the fuel cell byproduct, heat, leading to a substantial
increase in heat transfer and overall system efficiency (Faghri and Guo,
2005; 2008).
The matter of heat generation in fuel cell stacks presents
challenges for thermal management. Stacks operating at 40% to 60%
efficiency generate heat at the same rate to more than twice the rate of
electric generation. Due to changes in mass concentration, temperature
gradients, and in some cases, phase change throughout the stack, the
heat generation is not uniform. This non-uniform heat generation
further increases thermal gradients in the stack. Increasing the mobility
of the heat is a challenge that, if met, leads to three main benefits: (1)
The risk of stack failure due to overheating is reduced, (2) The stack
operates more closely to its design temperature, resulting in better
power density and efficiency, and (3) The heat can be reused, perhaps
for reactant preheating, prevaporization, combined cycle operation, or
cogeneration. For example, the heat pipe embedded with a bipolar plate
(Faghri and Guo, 2008) is an innovative approach that would increase
heat transfer in fuel cell stacks while requiring significantly smaller
thermal gradients and much smaller volumes and weights than
alternative methods. As conceptualized in Fig. 60, a bipolar plate is
fabricated with holes, into which micro heat pipes are inserted and
bonded. The micro heat pipes that are shown in Fig. 60 are embedded
in an axial and transverse direction.
Fig. 58 Thermal energy storage system (Faghri, 1990).
Fig. 59 Micro heat pipe exchanger (Faghri, 1991).

The effect of heat pipes to improve the performance of latent heat
thermal energy storage systems has been investigated experimentally
and theoretically (Shabgard et al., 2010; Robak et al., 2011;
Nithyanandam and Pitchumani, 2012). The experimental results of
Robak et al. (2011) showed 60% and more than 100% increase in the
heat transfer rates during melting and solidification, respectively,
compared to the fin-assisted storage systems as well as non-fin, nonheat pipe configurations. Shabgard et al. (2010) developed a thermal
network modeling approach for computationally-efficient simulation of
such heat pipe-assisted latent heat thermal energy storage systems. The
modeling results also showed substantial heat transfer enhancements
during charging and discharging of latent heat thermal energy storage
systems equipped with heat pipes. The developed thermal network
model was later extended to simulate a large scale heat pipe-assisted
cascaded latent heat thermal energy storage system for CSP applications
(2012).
Fuel Cells are versatile energy conversion devices with numerous
potential applications: large electrical plants, stationary electricity
generation, vehicle propulsion and small portable power (Faghri and
Guo, 2005; 2008). In recent years, proton exchange membrane fuel
cells (PEMFCs), direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), solid oxide fuel
cells (SOFCs) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) have become
the major types of fuel cell technologies that draw the most attention for
commercialization. Heat pipe technology is beneficial for fuel cell
development in two main ways: using heat pipes in fuel cells as thermal
management components and using the heat pipe concept in the fuel
cell systems to achieve passive high-effective fluids-thermal
management. Most fuel cell systems produce electrical energy at high
efficiencies that may range from 40% to 60% based on the lower
heating value (LHV) of the fuel. For example, a fuel cell operating at
Fig. 60 Bipolar plate integrated heat pipe (Faghri and Guo, 2008).
Fig. 61 Micro heat pipe embedded bipolar plate (Faghri and Guo,
2008).
Another method for thermal control in the fuel cell stack is
presented with the integrated bipolar plate flat heat pipe (Faghri and
Guo, 2008). For example, as conceptualized in Fig. 61, a carbon bipolar
plate contains a flat heat pipe. A challenge for developing this
component is sealing the heat pipe. Due to the permeability of the
carbon, two halves of the bipolar plates are coated with a liner--silver
activated brazing alloy (ABA). Also in the enclosure is a porous wick
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of metal foam, felt, or porous carbon. The two halves are then sealed
together, perhaps with brazing in an inert gas. The structure of the
interior is designed to allow good electrical conductivity, thermal
conductivity to the wick, and structural support, while the working fluid
is typically at a pressure different than the surroundings.
Passive DMFC technology uses various capillary approaches to
manage methanol and water without the need for a complex microfluidic subsystem (Fig. 62) (Guo and Faghri, 2006a; 2006b; Faghri and
Guo, 2005; 2009). At the core of this new technology is a unique
passive system that uses the heat pipe concept for fuel delivery.
Furthermore, the fuel cell is designed for both passive water
management and effective carbon dioxide removal. The passive
components that are critical to the fuel cell design are the fuel delivery,
and air-breathing and water recirculation systems. The passive fuel
delivery system stores pure methanol, which can be mixed with water in
situ without the use of a pumping system, and can be passively supplied
to the fuel cell anode at an optimal concentration. Since water is needed
in the anode for the methanol reaction to occur, the water created in the
cathode can be passively supplied to the anode. This water
recirculation, in conjunction with passive methanol fuel delivery, can
dramatically extend the operation time of the fuel cell per refueling. The
passive mass transfer concept (wick structure) developed in heat pipe
technology is an effective approach for mass transfer management in
various fuel cell technologies. The proposed DMFC technologies
developed were operated passively, without moving parts, which
resulted in a highly reliable system. Due to their significantly longer
charging life, passive miniature DMFC system are seriously being
considered for replacing the battery for applications such as cell
phones, digital cameras and laptops.
Current dish/Stirling systems use directly illuminated receiver
design in which the concentrated solar radiation is absorbed by tubular
receiver which also serve as the heater tubes of the Stirling engine.
Replacing the directly illuminated receiver design with spherical heat
pipe receivers improves the performance by about 20% (Andraka et al.,
1996). Two primary reasons contribute to this improvement; (a) in the
heat pipe receiver the temperature difference between the output gas
temperature and the receiver peak temperature is much less than the
directly illuminated receiver due to nearly isothermal operation of the
heat pipe. This allows higher operating temperatures resulting in higher
conversion efficiencies, and (b) in heat pipe receiver heat is transferred
to the Stirling engine by condensation on the entire surface of the heater
tubes, whereas in directly illuminated receivers only one side of the
tubes is irradiated. Hence the "dead volume" of the engine is decreased
and higher compression ratios can be achieved which result in greater
system efficiency (Andraka et al., 2012).
Aerospace and Avionics

Heat pipes are very attractive components in the area of spacecraft
cooling and temperature stabilization due to their low weight penalty,
zero maintenance, and reliability. Structural isothermalization is an
important problem with respect to orbiting astronomy experiments due
to the possible warpage from solar heating. During orbit, an observatory
is fixed on a single point such as a star. Therefore, one side of the
spacecraft will be subjected to intense solar radiation, while the other is
exposed to deep space. Heat pipes have been used to transport the heat
from the side irradiated by the sun to the cold side in order to equalize
the temperature of the structure. Heat pipes are also being used to
dissipate heat generated by electronic components in satellites.
Early experiments of heat pipes for aerospace applications were
conducted in sounding rockets which provided six to eight minutes of
0-g conditions. In 1974, ten separate heat pipe experiments were flown
in the International Heat Pipe Experiment (McIntosh et al., 1976). Also
in 1974, heat pipe experiments were conducted aboard the Applications
Technology Satellite-6 (Kirkpatrick and Brennan, 1976), in which an
ammonia heat pipe with a spiral artery wick was used as a thermal
diode. With the use of the space shuttle, flight testing of prototype heat
pipe designs continued at a much larger scale. In 1983, on the eighth
space shuttle flight, a 6-ft. monogroove heat pipe with Freon 21 as the
working fluid was flight tested as a heat pipe radiator (Rankin, 1984).
The Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element, which
consisted of a 50-ft. long high capacity monogroove heat pipe encased
in a radiator panel, was flown on the space shuttle in 1989 (Brown et
al., 1990), and during a 1991 shuttle flight, two heat pipe radiator
panels were separately flight tested (Brown et al., 1991). Heat pipe
thermal buses were proposed which facilitate a connection between
heat-generating components and external radiators (Morgownik and
Savage, 1987; Amidieu et al., 1987; Peck and Fleischman, 1987). The
components may be designed with a clamping device which can be
directly attached to the heat pipe thermal bus at various points in the
spacecraft. In 1992, two different axially grooved oxygen heat pipes
were tested in a Hitchhiker Canister experiment that was flown aboard
the Shuttle Discovery (STS-53) by NASA and the Air Force to
determine startup behavior and transport capabilities in micro gravity
(Brennan et al., 1993).
An advanced capillary structure which combined re-entrant and a large
number of micro grooves for the heat pipe evaporator was investigated
in microgravity conditions during the 2005 FOTON-M2 mission of the
European space agency (Schulze et al., 2007). Swanson (2007)
presented the NASA thermal technical challenges & opportunities for
the new age of space exploration with emphasis on heat pipes and two
phase thermal loops.
A heat pipe laser mirror has been fabricated in order to test the
feasibility of this technology compared to water-cooled or uncooled
mirrors for high power lasers (Barthelemy et al., 1978). Presently,
uncooled mirrors are limited to only a few seconds of use prior to
distortion from thermal overheating. Water-cooled mirrors have longer
service times, but are subjected to high internal pressures causing
distortion, which must be removed by polishing under pressure. A
copper-water heat pipe mirror was constructed, which was not affected
by the problems associated with conventional mirrors due to the heat
pipe action. The experiments conducted used a 10 kW carbon dioxide
laser, and it was found that heat pipes can be used with success if the
heat pipe is sufficiently preheated.
Thermal diodes have been proposed for use in cooling lowtemperature sensors, such as an infrared detector in low subsolar earth
orbits (Williams, 1978). This type of heat pipe was proposed due to its
characteristic of being able to cool the instrument during normal
operation, but effectively insulating it when exposed to an external heat
flux. One type of thermal diode uses a liquid reservoir at the evaporator
end of the heat pipe, which does not communicate with the wick
structure. During normal operation, the reservoir is empty. If the
condenser is subjected to an external heat flux, however, the working
Fig. 62 Passive direction methanol fuel cell using heat pipe concept
(Faghri and Guo, 2008).
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centrifugal force aids in the delivery of the condensate to the

evaporator. This design will significantly improve the heat and mass
transfer characteristics of the rotating components of the vaporabsorption heat pump by increasing the heat pumping capacity that can
be packaged in a given value. This results in a more efficient and
compact vapor-absorption heat pump system.
fluid condenses in the reservoir, causing the wick to dry out. This
results in the heat pipe becoming an insulator, because heat can only be
conducted axially through the thin pipe wall. Heat pipes have also been
qualified and/or used for thermal control applications in avionic
systems including aircrafts with more electric architectures.
Radioisotope Stirling systems are proposed to replace the
radioisotope thermoelectric generating systems as a long-lasting
electricity generation solution in space missions due to their higher
efficiency (Thieme and Schreiber, 2003). In the current radioisotope
Stirling systems if the Stilrling engine stops, the heat removal from the
system would be ceased and the insulation will be spoiled to prevent
damage to the clad fuel, but the mission will also be ended. Alkalimetal variable conductance heat pipes are proposed and tested to allow
multiple stops and restarts of the Stirling engine (Tarau and Anderson,
2010). In the proposed design, the evaporator of the heat pipe is
connected to the heat generation module. During the normal operation,
the heat is transferred from the heat generation unit to the heater head
of the Stirling engine by evaporation and condensation of the sodium
working fluid. When the Stirling engine stops, the temperature and
pressure of the heat pipe working fluid increases. The higher pressure
inside the heat pipe compresses the non-condensable gas and opens up
a radiator through which the heat is dissipated and the system
temperature stabilizes. Once the Stirling engine restarts, the temperature
and pressure drop and the radiator is covered by the non-condensable
gas to prevent unwanted heat rejection.
Heat pipe
Steam
a) Liquidgas heat pipe heat exchanger
Inlet
Heat Exchangers and Heat Pumps

Increases in the cost of energy have promoted the use of heat pipe
technology in industrial applications. Due to their high heat transfer
capabilities with no external power requirements, heat pipes are being
used in heat exchangers for various applications. In the power industry,
heat pipe heat exchangers are used as primary air heaters on new and
retrofit boilers. The major advantages of heat pipe heat exchangers
compared to conventional heat exchangers are that they are nearly
isothermal and can be built with better seals to reduce leakage. Heat
pipe air heaters should also be cheaper than conventional tubular heat
exchangers, as they are smaller and can be shipped in a small number of
modules. Heat pipe heat exchangers can serve as compact waste heat
recovery systems which require no power, a low pressure drop and are
easy to install on existing lines. Heat pipe heat exchangers can be
categorized into gas-gas, gas-liquid, and liquid-liquid type heat units.
Among these three, gas-gas heat pipe heat exchangers have the widest
application in industry. A gas-gas heat pipe exchanger consists of a
group of externally finned heat pipes which reclaim waste heat (Hassan
and Accensi, 1973; Holmes and Field, 1986). These units eliminate
cross-contamination due to the solid wall between the hot and cold gas
streams. Also, the heat pipe design is totally reversible (heat can be
transferred in either direction). Gas-gas energy recovery units typically
fall into three categories: heat recovery in air-conditioning systems (low
temperatures), recovery of excess process heat for space heating
(moderate temperature), and recovery of waste heat from high
temperature exhaust streams for reuse in the process (preheating of
combustion air, for example). The units for these applications vary in
size and construction depending on the specific application, but many
commercial models are now available that implement this heat pipe
design.
Gas-liquid heat pipe exchangers are less commonly available than
gas-gas models due to the fact that the present design of waste heat
boilers is very efficient. In the past, exhaust heat from boilers was
simply dispersed to the atmosphere. Figure 63 shows schematics for
waste heat recovery with liquid-gas and gas-gas heat exchangers. Faghri
(1993a) invented an innovative design for a centrifugal heat pipe vapor
absorption heat pump (Fig. 64). The heat pipes in this heat pump
system are disk-shaped, with one face partially or completely being the
evaporator and the opposite face partially or completely being the
condenser (Faghri, 1994). The wick is designed such that the
b) Gasgas heat pipe heat exchanger
Fig. 63 Waste heat recovery using heat pipe heat exchangers.
Gas Turbine Engines and the Automotive Industry

The temperature limitation is one of the most crucial limiting factors
related to the efficiency of a gas turbine aircraft engine or power gas
turbine. An increased turbine inlet temperature decreases both the
specific fuel and air consumption, while increasing efficiency. This
desire for a high turbine inlet temperature, however, is often in conflict
with materials available to withstand the high temperature. As a result,
innovative cooling systems for hot-gas-path components are required.
Among the hot-gas-path components, the first-stage rotor blade and
nozzle guide vane require the most challenging cooling consideration.
In addition to improving energy utilization efficiency, effective cooling
could also drastically improve the reliability of high-speed rotating
components. It has been observed that the creep life of turbine blades is
reduced by half with every 10 to 15C rise in metal temperature.
Therefore, the temperature of the turbine blade must be kept within
certain tolerable limits.
The primary cooling technology in use today for turbine blades and
nozzle guide vanes (NGVs) is the film cooling technology. Since 1995,
a number of efforts have been initiated to utilize the concepts of
miniature, radially rotating, high-temperature heat pipes, for gas turbine
blades and disk cooling. This also includes a series of experimental and
numerical studies (Cao, 1996; 1997; 2010; Zuo et al., 1998). High
temperature heat pipe cooling is a promising cooling technology for gas
turbine hot components, such as first stage rotor blades, nozzle guide
vanes, and rotor disks. This has the potential to significantly reduce the
temperature of these hot components, allowing for a much higher gas
turbine inlet temperature, while also reducing the consumption of highpressure compressor air.
A Stirling engine heated by sodium heat pipes has been constructed and
tested (Alleau et al., 1984; 1987; Meijer and Khalili, 1990). This
engine operates at highest efficiency when the thermal energy is
supplied to it at a very constant temperature and high heat fluxes.
Helium is heated to increase its pressure, which is used to drive pistons
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tolerant feature is achieved by utilizing an in-situ sintered wick which

also reduces the manufacturing costs.
and a crankshaft for the generation of power from thermal energy. The
sodium heat pipes deliver heat from a molten salt heat storage system to
the gaseous helium which is used to drive the engine. The coupling of a
Stirling cycle engine with sodium heat pipes can also be used in the
direct conversion of solar energy.
Condensate
Adiabatic section
Container
Evaporator
Fig. 65 Experimental thermosyphon Rankine engine (Nguyen et al.,

1992).
Production Tools
An important application of heat pipes is in the field of die casting and
injection molding (Winship, 1974; Reay, 1977). The most obvious use
of heat pipes in this field is the removal of heat during the solidification
process; however, heat pipes are also useful in minimizing thermal
shock in the dies. Die casting involves introducing a material in molten
form into a closed die. The material is cooled until it solidifies, the part
is removed, and the process repeated. An important consideration is the
time required for the material to cool into solid form, so most dies are
water cooled. It is often difficult to cool inaccessible parts of the die,
however, so heat pipes are used to cool these sections. These heat pipes
can also be used to preheat the die to assure the continuous flow of
molten material due to the reversible nature of heat pipes.
Fig. 64 Schematic of centrifugal heat pipe heat pump vapor-absorption

cycle (Faghri, 1993a).
Nguyen et al. (1992) proposed a thermosyphon Rankine engine for
power generation using solar and other available waste heat energy
sources. The basis of the engine (Fig. 65) is the modification of a heat
pipe to incorporate a turbine and thereby, making the system into a
Rankine cycle engine to convert thermal energy to electrical energy.
Another potential application of heat pipes has been toward the cooling
of vehicle brake systems (Maezawa et al., 1981). Normally, the brake
pads and rotors of a conventional automobile brake system suffer
greatly from the effects of elevated temperatures. Thermal cycling
induces stresses and causes increased amounts of corrosion, which
shorten the working lives of the rotors.
High temperatures at the rotor-pad interfaces cause embrittlement
of the brake pad material, which also reduces the service life. Rotating
and stationary heat pipes have been proposed to cool both the rotor and
brake pads, which would result in lower, more uniform temperatures.
The use of this development could also increase the service life of brake
pads so that lifetime pads, lasting the entire life of the automobile,
may become a reality. Vibration/shock-tolerant capillary two-phase
loops are developed to meet the cooling requirements of the high
performance electronics of future military vehicles which undergo
intense shocks during operation (Tang and Park, 2008). The shock
Medicine and Human Body Temperature Control

Another application is of heat pipes is related to human physiology. A
surgical probe incorporating a cryogenic heat pipe is being used to
destroy tumors in the human body (Basiulis, 1976). This type of
surgery, where the tissue is frozen instead rather than irradiated, is
beneficial because the surrounding tissue sustains practically no
damage. Also, the surgery results in very little bleeding or pain. The
cryoprobe is a hand-held device with a reservoir of liquid nitrogen and
a 12-inch heat pipe extension, which is maintained at approximately 77
K for about one-half hour. Fletcher and Peterson (1997) invented a
catheter using micro heat pipes that provide precise temperature control
for treating diseased tissue.
Another application related to human physiology concerns the control
of body temperature (Faghri et al., 1989b; Faghri, 1993b). In regions or
occupations where humans are exposed to extreme temperatures, such
as workers in polar regions or foundry workers, adverse health effects
from these environments are evident. Frostbite on the extremities in
cold regions and heat exhaustion in warm climates are very serious
problems which must be handled with extreme care. These problems
can be avoided with the use of gloves, socks, and suits in which heat
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pipes are placed in order to transfer heat either to or from parts of the
body (Fig. 66). In cold climates, heat pipes could bring heat from the
torso to the extremities such as the fingers, toes, and ears to prevent
frostbite. Figure 67 shows a conceptual design for cold weather
handwear with heat pipes, where body heat is transferred from the
forearm to the fingers. In very hot environments, such as those
experienced by fire fighters, a cold suit employing heat pipes could be
developed which would be lighter and less bulky than the suits
presently worn. This type of suit would also be beneficial in the respect
that the wearer would be kept cooler, resulting in more time available
for extracting people from a burning building, for instance.
It has been found experimentally that when the temperature of the

cauterizing forceps used in surgical operations increase above 80C, the
tissue under operation tends to stick to the forceps. Small-diameter heat
pipes are employed to precisely control the forceps temperature by
removing heat from the forceps tip as well as the tissue (Bilski and
Broadbent, 2010). The heat generated during cauterization evaporates
the working fluid of the heat pipe. The vapor moves towards the cold
section of the heat pipe where it dissipates its thermal energy content
and condenses. Capillary action then returns the condensed liquid to the
forceps tip. This technology represents the smallest known massproduced heat pipe assembly (with a diameter of 2.34 mm) and makes it
possible to passively control the temperature of forceps tips with
diameters ranging from 0.5 to 4 mm.
Ovens and Furnaces

One of the first applications of heat pipes (actually, two-phase closed
thermosyphons) was in baking ovens (Anonymous, 1867). Normal
flame-heated baking ovens warmed the firebrick in the firebox, which
then conducted the heat to the baking chamber so that the baked food
was not contaminated by the combustion products. With the advent of
the heat pipe, heat was transferred to the baking chamber by the
evaporation and condensation of the working fluid within the array of
tubes. This arrangement was not only more efficient, saving up to 25
percent of the fuel normally needed, but also resulted in a more uniform
oven temperature. A similar concept is the gas-fired restaurant griddle,
which is a flat plate heat pipe separating the gas fire from the cooking
surface (Basiulis, 1976). This provides a surface with an extremely
uniform temperature, even with heavy food loading. It also has the
benefit of a fast warm-up time from a cold start, and the efficiency is
comparable to the above-mentioned baking oven. Other food
processing equipment has been designed using heat pipe technology
such as braisers, kettles, saucepans, and deep fat fryers (Lamp, 1978).
High temperature furnaces have been developed for heat-treating,
sintering, and other applications (Finlay et al., 1976; Brost et al., 1990).
These furnaces are actually annular heat pipes with liquid-metal
working fluids. The isothermal behavior of the interior of the annular
heat pipe makes it ideal for use as a furnace. The temperature gradient
across the length is very small, which is always a significant problem
with conventional furnaces. Due to the operation of the heat pipe, only
a small portion of the outer surface of the annular heat pipe needs to be
heated. Upon insertion of a cold charge, the area in contact with the
cold charge becomes the condenser. Annular heat pipe furnaces are also
being used in the calibration of temperature measurement devices
(Chengsheng et al., 1984; Bassani et al., 1990). Thermocouples, RTD's
and thermistors have been calibrated using a variable conductance heat
pipe furnace; the temperature of which was measured with a traceable
platinum RTD. Optical pyrometers, which measure surface temperature
from the emitted radiation, have also been calibrated with heat pipe
blackbody sources.
Fig. 66 Temperature regulation system for the human body using heat
pipes (Faghri, 1993b).
Similar garments or blankets using heat pipes (Faghri, 1993b)
could also be applied to medical patients whose own body temperature
regulation system is impaired or not functioning. Patients with spinal
cord injuries or people with Multiple Sclerosis often become
overheated during hot weather because of the inability of the nervous
system to control their body temperature. A heat pipe suit equipped
with an external heat exchanger could significantly improve the quality
of life of these patients by allowing them to be more exposed to the
elements. Likewise, patients who are bedridden often become overly
warm or cold. In some cases, a blanket with a single-phase fluid loop is
placed on the patient for heating or cooling. Since this type of blanket is
quite heavy due to the fluid loop, a heat pipe blanket has been
proposed, which would decrease the weight and improve the heat
transfer and temperature uniformity.
Permafrost Stabilization
Permafrost stabilization is an important matter in designing the
foundations of buildings or other structures in arctic regions. During the
summer months, heat is conducted into the permafrost, which tends to
melt the water trapped in the soil. Normally, this thawing would allow
the foundation to sink or shift, thereby damaging the building. To avoid
this problem, engineers responsible for the Trans-Alaskan pipeline
placed heat pipes around the pilings of the pipeline supports (Fig. 68)
(Waters, 1976). The heat from the soil adjacent to the pilings was
dissipated to the ambient by the heat pipes, which maintained a
permafrost bulb around the pilings throughout the year.
Mashiko et al. (1989) developed an artificial permafrost storage
facility in Hokkaido, Japan (Fig. 69), where the evaporator of the heat
pipe is buried underground and the condenser is exposed to the
ambient. The heat pipe transfers the ground heat to the ambient in
winter which freezes the soil. When the temperature rises in the spring,
Fig. 67 Models of cold weather handware with heat pipes (Faghri et

al., 1989b).
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the heat is not transmitted from the ambient to the ground (thermal
diode), so the frozen soil is kept throughout the year. The main feature
of this system is that no power is required, and the temperature is kept
constant for a long period of time.
Transportation Systems and Deicing

Several innovations using heat pipe technology have been proposed
which could improve the safety and reliability of transportation
systems. Heat pipes have been used to melt the ice and snow on
roadways, bridges, and aircraft runways by transporting geothermal
heat stored in the ground to the pavement (Suelau et al., 1976; Bartsch
et al., 1987). Shiraishi et al. (1992) presented several newly developed
snow removal and deicing methods using heat pipes such as prevention
of snow damage to support wires for telephone poles, a snow melting
system for pavement, and a large scale snow melting system for roads in
Japan. Corrugated, long heat pipes are utilized for these applications.
People working on ships at sea during the winter months are plagued by
the problems associated with icing. Anything exposed to the elements,
such as the decks and handrails, are constantly icing over during the
winter. The usual method of removing the ice is to use an axe or
hatchet, which is extremely dangerous when the seas are rough. The
potential for severe cuts or falling overboard is always present. To solve
this problem, heat pipes have been incorporated into the decks and
handrails to transport waste heat from the engine (Matsuda et al.,
1981). This heat constantly melts the ice before large deposits are
formed. Another similar deicing problem addressed by the use of heat
pipes concerns navigation buoys (Larkin and Dubuc, 1976). Off the
east coast of Canada, navigation buoys are frequently subjected to
ocean spray and freezing temperatures, which results in the buoys
capsizing due to the weight of the ice. Researchers have constructed a
prototype buoy which was, in essence, a large ammonia thermosyphon
heated from the sea. It was experimentally determined that the
superstructure of the thermosyphon was kept free from ice, but that the
auxiliary float seriously iced up.
Manufacturing
High temperature heat pipes have been proposed for use in the
manufacturing of glass bottles (Brost et al., 1973). The glass bottle
forming procedure starts by periodically dipping a steel piston into a
steel form filled with molten glass. This forms a hollow glass tube,
which is later blown into its final shape. The initial glass temperature is
around 1100C and the surface temperature of the piston needs to be
kept around 600C. At higher piston temperatures, the glass will stick to
the piston, and at lower temperatures, the glass viscosity increases,
causing insufficient deformation during the forming process.
Insufficient deformation is the cause of thin-walled bottles which
contribute to the waste rate. A stainless-steel/potassium heat pipe was
proposed and tested, and it was found that the heat pipe could be kept
nearly isothermal. This resulted in a higher dipping frequency and a
reduced amount of glass bottle waste.
Heat pipes
(Carbon steel)
12. CONCLUSIONS
Condenser
An overview of various types of heat pipes is presented in this review.

This includes heat pipe fundamentals, operations, heat transport
limitations, and full simulation. This review provides a self contained
document to design and simulate various types of heat pipes under
different operating conditions. Numerical and analytical analyses of
heat pipes have progressed significantly over the last several decades.
State-of-the-art modeling is capable of predicting thermal performance
under various operating conditions for conventional heat pipes. In
particular, advances related to the full simulation of heat pipes under
steady state, continuum transient and frozen startup operation for
conventional heat pipes have been very successful, despite complex
multiphase and multidomain transport phenomena in heat pipes. In
general, it has been shown that heat pipe simulations must include
conjugate heat transfer with the wall, wick and vapor, since these affect
both the transient and steady state operating conditions. More
fundamental works are needed to better understand the physical
phenomena of pulsating heat pipes and loop heat pipes. An accurate
simulation of liquid/vapor interface, including multiphase phenomena
in various wicks, is important to accurately predict the heat transport
limitation of heat pipes.
Thermal
insulation
Acknowledgment: Copyright permission from ASME
Fig. 68 Application of heat pipes for permafrost stabilization of

structural supports on the Trans-Alaskan pipeline.
Cold air
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What are some types of heat pipes discussed?

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Frontiers in Heat Pipes (FHP), 5, 1 (2014)

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