Single-Loop Triple-Diameter Pulsating Heat Pipes at Reduced Heat Input: A CFD Study on Inner Diameter Optimization

Rasoul Fallahzadeh, Masoud Hatami Garousi, Luca Pagliarini, Fabio Bozzoli and Luca Cattani ()
Additional contact information
Rasoul Fallahzadeh: Department of Engineering for Industrial Systems and Technologies, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Masoud Hatami Garousi: Department of Engineering for Industrial Systems and Technologies, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Luca Pagliarini: Department of Engineering for Industrial Systems and Technologies, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Fabio Bozzoli: Department of Engineering for Industrial Systems and Technologies, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Luca Cattani: Department of Engineering for Industrial Systems and Technologies, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-19

Abstract: The geometric configuration, particularly the inner tube diameter, plays a significant role in the thermal performance of pulsating heat pipes (PHPs). Previous experimental research has demonstrated that single-loop triple-diameter PHPs (TD-PHPs) outperform single-loop single-diameter PHPs (SD-PHPs) and dual-diameter PHPs (DD-PHPs) in terms of thermal performance under moderate heating input powers ranging from 25 W to 75 W. However, a reduction in heat input from 75 W to 25 W leads to a diminished impact of TD-PHPs on the thermal performance. Therefore, to improve the overall performance of TD-PHPs, this study used two-dimensional transient computational fluid dynamics simulations to identify the optimal inner tube diameters for TD-PHPs at a low heat input by evaluating the thermal resistance of five TD-PHPs with various inner diameters. The findings reveal that the TD-PHP configuration exhibits minimum thermal resistance, with inner diameters of 4.5 mm for the upper arch (the condenser section), 4.0 mm for the wide branch, and 2.5 mm for the narrow branch, primarily due to its full circulation flow pattern. Furthermore, the overall heat transfer performance of the optimal TD-PHP was compared with that of an SD-PHP at low heat inputs (10 and 18 W), indicating that although the optimal TD-PHP shows lower thermal resistance, it does not significantly affect the start-up time.

Keywords: triple-diameter pulsating heat pipe; numerical simulation; diameter optimization; flow pattern; thermal resistance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5568/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5568/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:22:p:5568-:d:1515984

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().