The rapid development of electronic technology has led to increased integration density and power density in semiconductor chips, making effective thermal management in high-heat-flux environments a critical challenge. Conventional air-cooling methods...
The rapid development of electronic technology has led to increased integration density and power density in semiconductor chips, making effective thermal management in high-heat-flux environments a critical challenge. Conventional air-cooling methods are inadequate for these high-density thermal environments. Furthermore, traditional two-phase device, such as conventional heat pipe, suffer from significant pressure drops during long-distance heat transport, while thermosiphons are gravity-dependent, restricting their installation orientation. Consequently, there is a distinct need for research into high-efficiency heat transfer devices capable of operating over long distances and in anti-gravity(adverse gradient) orientations without external power.
This study aims to experimentally investigate the operating range of a Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) featuring a cylindrical evaporator, designed to overcome these limitation. Specifically, it focuses on identifying the high heat load limit (capillary limit) and the low heat load limit (viscous limit). For this investigation, a cylindrical LHP was designed and fabricated.
Methanol was selected as the working fluid, with a filling ratio of 30%. The inclination(tilt angle), which significantly impacts LHP performance, was est as the primary experimental variable. The maximum heat transfer performance and the minimum start-up heat lead were measured under favorable (positive) gradient, horizontal and adverse (negative) gradient conditions. Based on the experimental results, this research seeks to elucidate the dependency of the LHP’s operating limits on inclination. The findings are expected to serve as critical baseline data for the future design and optimization of LHPs.