Effect of Working Fluid, Orientation and Cooling Mode on Thermal Performance of Miniature Flat Heat Pipe

Abstract

Flat Heat Pipes (FHP) are commonly used as passive cooling system in portable electronic gadgets due to their compact profile. The present study investigates the effect of different working fluids on the thermal performance of a miniature flat heat pipe (FHP) under different orientations and condenser cooling mechanisms. Deionized (DI) water, acetone, ethanol, and methanol are chosen as working fluids in the FHP. Five different inclinations (0° (Horizontal), 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° (Vertical)) and two different condenser cooling methods (natural convection and forced convection with fan cooling) are considered in this experimental study. The FHP thermal performance is quantified in terms of overall temperature difference, thermal resistance, and effective thermal conductivity. The results indicate that comparatively higher effective thermal conductivity values are obtained for methanol and acetone heat pipes at low heat loads and under natural convection. At higher heat loads, the ethanol heat pipe had higher effective thermal conductivity values for the same condenser cooling method. For the case of forced convection cooling mode, the methanol heat pipe had enhanced thermal performance as compared to the other three fluids for all heat load ranges and different inclinations. Due to the higher boiling point of water, as a working fluid water is not suitable in most of the experimental trials except at high heat load under forced convection cooling and in a horizontal orientation.