Design, fabrication, and characterization of a multi-condenser loop heat pipe

A condenser design was characterized for a multi-condenser loop heat pipe (LHP) capable of dissipating 1000 W. The LHP was designed for integration into a high performance aircooled heat sink to address thermal management challenges in advanced electronic systems. The multi-layer stack of condensers utilizes a sintered wick design to stabilize the liquidvapor interface and prevent liquid flooding of the lower condenser layers in the presence of a gravitational head. In addition a liquid subcooler was incorporated to suppress vapor flashing in the liquid return line. The condensers were fabricated using photo-chemically etched Monel frames with Monel sintered wicks with particle sizes up to 44 pm. The performance of the condensers was characterized in a custom experimental flow rig that monitored the pressure and temperatures of the vapor and liquid. Two condensers arranged in parallel were demonstrated to dissipate the required heat load while maintaining a stable liquidvapor interface with differences in liquid and vapor side pressures in excess of 6.2 kPa. The experimental results defined the stable operating limits of multiple condensers within a LHP given a range of convective heat transfer coefficients and differences in liquid and vapor side pressures. The inclusion of a wicking element in the condenser of the LHP increases the flexibility in design by allowing a modular construction with multiple condensers which can be integrated into air-cooled heat exchangers to cool devices with high power density.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Hanks, Daniel Frank

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Evelyn N Wang.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74985

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/74985