Heat Conduction Effect on Oscillating Heat Pipe Operation

The effect of heat conduction through the adiabatic section on the oscillating motion and heat transfer performance in an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) was investigated experimentally. Two, closed loop, six-turn OHPs were constructed: one with a separate copper block for the evaporator and condenser sections (split block design) and one using a single continuous copper block for the evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser sections (continuous block design). The results show that the presence of heat conduction directly from the evaporator wall to the adiabatic section and from the adiabatic section to the condenser of a heat pipe will reduce the oscillating amplitude of the evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser temperatures. It was also found that in addition to a higher level of temperature uniformity, the continuous block design results in better heat transfer performance than a heat pipe without conduction through the adiabatic section.