TRANSIENT-BEHAVIOR OF AXIALLY GROOVED HEAT PIPES WITH THERMAL-ENERGY STORAGE

A novel design of a high-temperature axially grooved heat pipe (HP) incorporated with thermal energy storage (TES) to mitigate pulse heat loads are presented. The transient behavior of the HP/TES device was simulated using a three-dimensional numerical model based on finite-difference approximations. A phase-change material (PCM) encapsulated in cylindrical containers was used as thermal energy storage. The transient response of three different HP/TES configurations were compared: 1) heat pipe with one big empty cylinder installed in the vapor core, 2) heat pipe with one big PCM cylinder, and 3) heat pipe with six small PCM cylinders. From the numerical results, it was found that the PCM is very effective in mitigating the adverse effect of pulse heat loads on normal heat pipe operation.