Heat Pipe

A heat pipe is a simple device that can quickly transfer heat from one point to another. They are often referred to as the superconductors of heat as they possess an extra ordinary heat transfer capacity & rate with almost no heat loss[6].The idea of heat pipes was first suggested by R.S.Gaugler in1942. However, it was not until 1962, when G.M.Grover invented it, that its remarkable properties were appreciated & serious development began. Initialy Grover was interested in the development of high temperature heat pipe employing liquid metal working fluids. Shortly after Grover s publication work was started on liquid metal heat pipes buy Dunn at Harwell and Neu and Busse at Ispra Interest in heat pipe concept developed rapidly both for space and terrestrial applications. Working fluids used were melts, water, ammonia, acetone, alcohol, nitrogen and helium. At the same time theory of heat pipe become better understood; the most important contribution to this theoretical understanding was the paper by Cotter in 1965.in 1969 Cheung lists 80 references; in 1970 Chishlom in his book cites 149 references, and by 1976 the Nel Heat pipe Bibliography contained 544 references. The third international Heat Pipe conference held in 1978 in [5] Palo Alto, California, was sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Sixty five papers were included in the proceedings. Flowing the trend of approximately 3 year intervals the fourth International Heat Pipe Conference was held in 1981 in London the proceedings contain almost 70 papers and of particular note is the contribution made to heat pipe technology during the past 3-4 years in Japan particularly application in to electronics and energy conservation by 1977 it had become established as a most useful device in mundane applications, as well as retaining its more glamorous status in spacecraft temperature control. Seventh International Heat Pipe Conference was held in China in 1992. The technology of heat pipe is based on thermodynamic cycle of evaporation and condensation. It consists of a sealed aluminum or copper container whose inner surfaces have a capillary wicking material [2]. The wick provides the capillary driving force to return the condensate to the evaporator. The quality and type of wick usually determines the performance of the heat pipe.