Heat pipes, as passive elements show a high level of reliability when taking heat away and they can take away heat flows having a significantly higher density than systems with forced convection. A heat pipe is a hermetically closed duct, filled with working fluid. Transport of heat in heat pipes is procured by the change of state of the working fluid from liquid state to steam and vice versa and depends on the hydrodynamic and heat processes in the pipe. This study have been focused on observing the impact these processes have on the heat process, the transport of heat within the heat pipe with the help of thermovision. The experiment is oriented at scanning the changes in the surface temperatures of the basic structural types of capillary heat pipes in vertical position.

The performance of ten wickless heat pipes without adiabatic sections is investigated experimentally at low heat inputs 120 to 2000 W/m2 for use in solar water heaters. Three heat pipe diameter groups were tested, namely 16, 22, and 28.5 mm. Each group had evaporator lengths of 1150, 1300, and 1550 mm, respectively, with an extra evaporator length of 1800 mm added to the second group. The condenser section length of all heat pipes was 200 mm. Ethanol, methanol, and acetone were utilized as working fluids, at inventory of 25%, 50%, 70%, and 90% by evaporator volume respectively. The 22 mm diameter pipes were tested at inclination angles 30◦, 45◦, and 60◦. Other diameter groups were tested at 45◦ only. Experiments revealed increased surface temperatures and heat transfer coefficients with increased pipe diameter and evaporator length, and that increased working fluid inventory caused pronounced reduction in evaporator surface temperature accompanied by improved heat transfer coefficient to reach maximum values at 50% inventory for the selected fluids. Violent noisy shocks were observed with 70% and 90% inventories with the tested heat pipes and the selected working fluids with heat flux inputs from 320–1900 W/m2. These shocks significantly affected the heat pipes heat transfer capability and operation stability. Experiments revealed a 45◦ and 50% optimum inclination angle of fill charge ratio respectively, and that wickless heat pipes can be satisfactorily used in solar applications. The effect of evaporator length and heat pipe diameter on the performance was included in data correlations.

In the paper presented are studies on the investigation of the capillary forces effect induced in the porous structure of a loop heat pipe using water and ethanol ad test fluids. The potential application of such effect is for example in the evaporator of the domestic micro-CHP unit, where the reduction of pumping power could be obtained. Preliminary analysis of the results indicates water as having the best potential for developing the capillary effect.

An experimental investigation was performed on the thermal performance and heat transfer characteristics of acetone/zirconia nanofluid in a straight (rod) gravity-assisted heat pipe. The heat pipe was fabricated from copper with a diameter of 15 mm, evaporator-condenser length of 100 mm and adiabatic length of 50 mm. The zirconia-acetone nanofluid was prepared at 0.05–0.15% wt. Influence of heat flux applied to the evaporator, filling ratio, tilt angle and mass concentration of nanofluid on the heat transfer coefficient of heat pipe was investigated. Results showed that the use of nanofluid increases the heat transfer coefficient while decreasing the thermal resistance of the heat pipe. However, for the filling ratio and tilt angle values, the heat transfer coefficient initially increases with an increase in both. However, from a specific value, which was 0.65 for filling ratio and 60–65 deg for tilt angle, the heat transfer coefficient was suppressed. This was attributed to the limitation in the internal space of the heat pipe and also the accumulation of working fluid inside the bottom of the heat pipe due to the large tilt angle. Overall, zirconia-acetone showed a great potential to increase the thermal performance of the heat pipe.

In this study, the influences of different parameters at performance two-phase closed thermosiphon (TPCT) was presented. It has been confirmed that the working fluid, as well as operating parameters and fill ratio, are very important factors in the performance of TPCT. The article shows characteristics of gravitational tube geometries, as well as the technical characteristic of the most important system components, i.e., the evaporator/condenser. The experiment’s plan and the results of it for the two-phase thermosiphon for both evaluated geometries with varying thermal and fluid flow parameters are presented. Experiments were performed for the most perspective working fluids, namely: water, R134a, SES36, ethanol and HFE7100. Obtained research proves the possibility to use TPCT for heat recovery from the industrial waste water.

The flat horizontal polymer loop thermosyphon with flexible transport lines is suggested and tested. The thermosyphon envelope consists of a polyamide composite with carbon based high thermal conductive micro-, nanofilaments and nanoparticles to increase its effective thermal conductivity up to 11 W/(m°C). Rectangular capillary mini grooves inside the evaporator and condenser of thermosyphon are used as a mean of heat transfer enhancement. The tested working fluid is R600. Thermosyphon evaporator and condenser are similar in design, have a long service life. In this paper three different methods (transient, quasi-stationary, and stationary) have been used to determine the thermophysical properties of polymer composites used as an envelope of thermosyphon, which make it possible to design a wide range of new heat transfer equipment. The results obtained contribute to establish the viability of using polymer thermosyphons for ground heat sinks (solar energy storage), gas-liquid heat exchanger applications involving seawater and other corrosive fluids, efficient cooling of superconductive magnets impregnated with epoxy/carbon composites to prevent wire movement, enhance stability, and diminish heat generation.

A domestic hot water (DHW) system has been modernized in a multi-family house, located in the southeastern part of Poland, inhabited by 105 people. The existing heating system (2 gas boilers) was extended by a solar system consisting of 32 evacuated tube collectors with a heat pipe (the absorber area: 38.72 m2). On the basis of the system performance data, the ecological effect of the modernization, expressed in avoided CO2 emission, was estimated. The use of the solar thermal system allows CO2 emissions to be reduced up to 4.4 Mg annually. When analyzing the environmental effects of the application of the solar system, the production cycle of the most material-consuming components, namely: DHW storage tank and solar collectors, was taken into account. To further reduce CO2 emission, a photovoltaic installation (PV), supplying electric power to the pump-control system of the solar thermal system has been proposed. In the Matlab computing environment, based on the solar installation measurement data and the data of the total radiation intensity measurement, the area of photovoltaic panels and battery capacity has been optimized. It has been shown that the photovoltaic panel of approx. 1.8 m2 and 12 V battery capacity of approx. 21 Ah gives the greatest ecological effects in the form of the lowest CO2 emission. If a photovoltaic system was added it could reduce emissions by up to an additional 160 kg per year. The above calculations take also emissions resulting from the production of PV panels and batteries into account.

The present work involved an extensive outdoor performance testing program of a solar water heating system that consists of four evacuated tube solar collectors incorporating four wickless heat pipes integrated to a storage tank. Tests were conducted under the weather conditions of Baghdad, Iraq. The heat pipes were of 22 mm diameter, 1800 mm evaporator length and 200 mm condenser length. Three heat pipe working fluids were employed, ethanol, methanol, and acetone at an inventory of 50% by volume of the heat pipe evaporator sections. The system was tested outdoors with various load conditions. Results showed that the system performance was not sensitive to the type of heat pipe working fluid employed here. Improved overall efficiency of the solar system was obtained with hot water withdrawal (load conditions) by 14%. A theoretical analysis was formulated for the solar system performance using an energy balance based iterative electrical analogy formulation to compare the experimental temperature behavior and energy output with theoretical predictions. Good agreement of 8% was obtained between theoretical and experimental values.