EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF A CAPILLARY PUMPED LOOP

An experimental investigation was conducted on a relatively new and unique type of capillary pumped loop (CPL) at various power inputs and adverse tilts in order to verify the operational parameters and measure the performance limits. A concurrently developed computer model was compared with the experimental data to determine the accuracy of the model and verify the predicted trends. The model shows good agreement with the experimental data and indicates that the overall transport capacity of this design is significantly greater than what would normally be expected in conventional heat pipes. The steady-state temperature variations are presented as a function of input power and adverse tilt, along with the transient response characteristics of the CPL. Also, a comparison is made between data obtained by the authors and that supplied by the manufacturer.