THERMAL HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE OF AN OSCILLATING HEAT PIPE FOR AXIAL HEAT TRANSFER AND AS A HEAT SPREADER

Abstract

In this thesis, a stacked double-layer flat plate oscillating heat pipe charged with degassed DI water was designed, fabricated and characterized under different operating conditions (orientation, system or cooling water temperature and heat load). The oscillating heat pipe was designed to dissipate 500 W within a footprint of 170 x 100 mm2. The oscillating heat pipe had a total of 46 channels (23 channels per layer) with a nominal diameter of 2 mm. Tests were performed to characterize the performance of the oscillating heat pipe for (i) axial heat transfer and (ii) as a heat spreader. The stacked oscillating heat pipe showed a distinctive feature in that it overcame the absence of the gravity effect when operated in a horizontal orientation. The thermal performance was found to be greatly dependent on the operational parameters. The oscillating heat pipe was able to dissipate a heat load greater than 500 W without any indication of dry-out. An increase in the cooling water temperature enhanced the performance and was accompanied with an increase in the on/off oscillation ratio. The lowest thermal resistance of 0.06 K/W was achieved at 500 W with a 50℃ cooling water temperature, with a corresponding evaporator heat transfer coefficient of 0.78 W/cm2K. The oscillating heat pipe improved the heat spreading capability when locally heated at the middle and end locations. The thermal performance was enhanced by 27 percent and 21 percent, respectively, when compared to a plain heat spreader.