Experimental research on the thermal performance and semi-visualization of rectangular flat micro-grooved gravity heat pipes

Abstract

To strengthen the heat dissipating capacity of a heat pipe used for integrated insulated gate bipolar transistors, as an extension of our earlier work, the effect of micro-groove dimension on the thermal performance of flat micro-grooved gravity heat pipe was studied. Nine pipes with different depths (0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm) and widths (0.4 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.2 mm) were fabricated and tested under a heating load range from 80 W to 180 W. The start-up time, temperature difference, relative thermal resistance and equivalent thermal conductivity were presented as performance indicators by comparison of flat gravity heat pipes with and without micro-grooves. Results reveal that the highest equivalent thermal conductivity of the flat micro-grooved gravity heat pipes is 2.55 times as that of the flat gravity heat pipe without micro-grooves. The flat gravity heat pipes with deeper and narrower micro-grooves show better thermal performance and the optimal rectangular micro-groove dimension among the selected options is determined to be 1.2 mm (depth) × 0.4 mm (width). Furthermore, the liquid-vapor phase behaviors were observed to verify the heat transfer effects and analyze the heat transfer mechanism of the flat micro-grooved heat pipes.