• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1533-1540
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• 2001

A high-temperature sodium stainless steel heat pipe was fabricated and its performance has been investigated. The working fluid was sodium and it was sealed inside a straight tube container made of stainless steel. The amount of sodium occupied approximately 20% of the total volume of the heat pipe and its weight was 65.7gram. The length of a stainless steel container is 1002mm and its outside diameter is 25.4mm. Performance tests were carried out in a room air condition under a free convective environment and the measured temperatures are presented. The start-up behavior of the heat pipe from a frozen state was investigated for various heat input values between 600W and 1205W. In steady state, axial temperature distributions of a heat pipe were measured and its heat transfer rates were estimated in the range of vapor temperature from 50$0^{\circ}C$ to 63$0^{\circ}C$. It is found that there are small temperature differences in the vapor core along the axial direction of a sodium heat pipe for the high operating temperatures. But for the range of low operating temperatures there are large temperature drops along the vapor core region of a sodium heat pipe, because a small vapor pressure drop makes a large temperature drop. The transition temperature was reached more rapidly in the cases of high heat input rate for the sodium heat pipe.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1622-1629
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• 2002

To enhance isothermal characteristics of glass-farming surface, a rectangular parallelepiped heat pipes was fabricated, tested, and analyzed. The working fluid was sodium and the wall material was stainless steel 304. The dimension of the heat pipe was 210 (L) $\times$ 140(W) $\times$ 92(H)mm. A lattice structure covered with screen mesh was inserted to promote return of working fluid. The bottom side of heat pipe was heated electrically and the top side was cooled by liquid circulation. The temperature distribution at the bottom surface was of major concern and was monitored to determine isothermal characteristics. A frozen start-up of rectangular parallelepiped liquid metal heat pipe was tested. The operating mode of the sodium heat pipe was affected by the temperature of cooling zone, input heat flux, and the operating temperature of heat pipe. The heat pipe operated in a normal fashion as long as the heat flux was over 5.78W/cm$^2$, and the inside wall temperature of condenser part was above 95$^{\circ}C$ The maximum temperature difference at the bottom surface was observed to be 32$^{\circ}C$ when the operating temperature of the heat pipe was operating normally around 50$0^{\circ}C$. The result showed that a sodium heat pipe was very effective in reducing significantly the temperature difference in the glass-forming surface.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1058-1062
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• 2004

High-temperature cylindrical stainless steel/sodium heat pipe was manufactured and tested under long-term operation. The container material was stainless steel 316L and the working fluid was sodium. The heat pipe was 25.4 mm in diameter and 1000 mm in length with a two-layer screen mesh wick. The evaporator part was 600 mm and the condenser part was 300 mm in length. Total measurement points on heat pipe were 15 points and 12 points were located in condenser part. The heat pipe was heated for 142 days(3400 hours) at $800^{\circ}C$. In the test period, the maximum temperature difference was increased from $18^{\circ}C$ o $28^{\circ}C$ and the maximum thermal resistance was as low as $0.015^{\circ}CW$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.178-181
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• 2008

Cylindrical stainless-steel/sodium heat pipe for a high-temperature application was manufactured and tested for transient and steady-state operations. The container material was made of stainless-steel 316, and the working fluid was sodium. Stainless-steel 316 mesh screen was inserted as a capillary structure. The working fluid fill charge ratio was approximately 64 $\sim$ 181% based on the pore space of the wick. The outer diameter of the heat pipe was 12.7 mm and the total length was 250 mm. The evaporator part was 150 mm and the condenser 80 mm. The performance test of the heat pipe has been conducted in the furnace with up to 800 W. The variation of the average heat transfer coefficient was investigated as a function of heat flux and vapor temperature. As input thermal load increased, it was showed that difference of temperatures in evaporator and condenser decreased and that operating section and heat transfer characteristics at the heat pipe increased.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.311-316
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• 2005

The experimental study for an operational characteristics and performance of the sodium heat pipe were carried out. For an experiment. the heat pipe which is 1000mm length and 25.4mm diameter of stainless steel container with 50 mesh of screen wick using sodium as a working fluid is manufactured and tested as functions of heat flow rate, inclined angle and operating temperature. The test results are as follows. During the start-up. frontal start up was observed because of the vapor density increasing as increased the hot zone. Also, the heat pipe showed uniform temperature over than $420^{\circ}C$ of the operating temperature. The average heat transfer coefficient increased as the heat flux and the vapor temperature increase, and the range of the total thermal resistance was 0.075-0.04 $^{\circ}C/W$ at the 12-53.55 $kW/m^2$ of heat flux and $500-750^{\circ}C$of operating temperature. The maximum heat flow rate was 750W at the 10 degree of top heating mode.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1044-1051
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• 2005

The isothermal characteristics of a rectangular parallelepiped sodium heat pipe were inves­tigated for high-temperature applications. The heat pipes was made of stainless steel of which the dimension was $140\;m\;(L)\;{\times}\;95m\;(W)\;{\times}\;46 m\;(H)$ and the thickness of the container was 5 mm. Both inner surfaces of evaporator and condenser were covered with screen meshes to help spread the liquid state working fluid. To provide additional path for the working fluid, a lattice structure covered with screen mesh wick was inserted in the heat pipe. The bottom surface of the heat pipe was heated by an electric heater and the top surface was cooled by circulating coolant. The concern in this study was to enhance the temperature uniformity at the bottom surface of the heat pipe while an uneven heat source up to 900 W was in contact. The temperature distribution over the bottom surface was monitored at more than twenty six locations. It was found that the operating performance of the sodium heat pipe was critically affected by the inner wall temperature of the condenser region where the working fluid may be changed to a solid phase unless the temperature was higher than its melting point. The maximum temperature difference across the bottom surface was observed to be $114^{\circ}C$ for 850 W thermal load and $100^{\circ}C$ coolant inlet temperature. The effects of fill charge ratio, coolant inlet temperature and operating temperature on thermal performance of heat pipe were analyzed and discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.3117-3129
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• 2022

Deeply understanding the phase change of thin liquid sodium film inside wick pore is very important for further studying high-temperature sodium heat pipe's heat transfer. For the first time, the evaporation and condensation of thin liquid sodium film are investigated by the Lennard-Jones potential of molecular dynamics. Based on the startup and normal operation of the sodium heat pipe, three different cases are simulated. First, the equilibrium is achieved and the Mass Accommodation Coefficients of the three cases are 0.3886, 0.2119, 0.2615 respectively. Secondly, the non-equilibrium is built. The change of liquid film thickness, the number of gas atoms, the net evaporation flux (J_net), the heat transfer coefficient (h) at the liquid-gas interface are acquired. Results indicate that the magnitude of the J_net and the h increase with the basic equilibrium temperature. In 520-600 K (the startup of the heat pipe), the h has approached 5-6 W m^-2 K^-1 while liquid film thickness is in 11-13 nm. The fact shows that during the initial startup of the sodium heat pipe, the thermal resistance at the liquid-gas interface can't be negligible. This work is the complement and extension for macroscopic investigation of heat transfer inside sodium heat pipe. It can provide a reference for further numerical simulation and optimal design of the sodium heat pipe in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2009

A horizontal tube furnace with a wide uniform-temperature zone was developed using isothermal characteristics of a heat pipe. The heat pipe heating system consists of a concentric annular shaped stainless-steel container, sodium as a working fluid and a screen mesh wick structure. The performance test of the heat pipe revealed that temperature changes along seven consecutive positions of the heat pipe outer wall were less than${\pm}0.1^{\circ}C$, thereby ensuring the high isothermal property. The isothermal property of the heat pipe-adapted tube fumace was investigated and compared to a conventional non-heat pipe type tube furnace. The temperature distribution measurement showed that the uniform temperature zone, in which temperature change is less than${\pm}$1$^{\circ}$C, of the heat pipe employed tube furnace system was about three times longer compared to the conventional tube furnace system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2029-2038
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• 2024

A deep understanding of the characteristics and mechanism of geyser boiling and capillary pumping is necessary to optimize a high-temperature sodium heat pipe. In this work, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) two-phase model and the capillary force model in the mesh wick were used to model the complex phase change and fluid flow in the heat pipe. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations successfully predicted the process of bubble nucleation, growth, aggregation, and detachment from the wall in the liquid pool of the evaporation section of the heat pipe in horizontal and tilted states, as well as the reflux phenomenon of capillary suction within the wick. The accuracy and stability of the capillary force model within the wick were verified. In addition, the causes of geyser boiling in heat pipes were analyzed by extracting the oscillation distribution of heat pipe wall temperature. The results show that adding the capillary force model within the wick structure can reasonably simulate the liquid backflow phenomenon at the condensation; Under the horizontal and inclined operating conditions of the heat pipe, the phenomenon of local dry-out will occur, resulting in a sharp increase in local temperature. The speed of bubble detachment and the timely reflux of liquid sodium (condensate) replenishment in the wick play a vital role in the geyser temperature oscillation of the tube wall. The numerical simulation method and the results of this study are anticipated to provide a good reference for the investigation of geyser boiling in high-temperature heat pipes.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.247-250
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• 2009

Sodium heat pipe for high-temperature solar thermal application was manufactured and tested for transient and steady-state operations. Total length of the heat pipe was 650 mm and the outer diameter was 12.7 mm. Thermal performance was compared experimentally for two different cooling methods of the forced and the natural convection cooling in the heat pipe condenser. During the experiment, the maximum temperature was about 1300K, and different cooling methods were applied to the condenser region to charge the operating temperature. The effective thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance were investigated as a function of heat flux, heat transport length, and operating temperature.