Investigation of thermo-fluid dynamics of two-phase capillary-pumped heat transfer devices

现代电子设备的功率越来越大，结构也越来越紧凑；因此，对更有效和创新的冷却技术的需求不断增加。目前使用的最有效的冷却技术之一是热管。热管被广泛用于从发热部件（如计算机中的微处理器或航天器中的电子仪器）传递多余的热量，同时将温度保持在规定的范围内。与传统的冷却技术相比，这些设备的优点包括没有活动部件，坚固耐用，并且能够传递大量的热量。为了满足具有挑战性的热冷却要求，新的热管设计已经出现。本课题主要研究两种高效热管设计：动脉热管和环路热管。虽然最近在设计这些系统方面取得了重要进展，但一些操作方面还远未了解。阻碍这些设备更先进发展的主要困难之一是缺乏现实的数学模型。热管的工作依赖于多孔结构中流体的相变。液体从多孔结构中蒸发是最具挑战性的问题之一。由于涉及的规模很小，实验工作也极具挑战性。

Modern electronic equipment is producing more power and becoming more compact; therefore, there is an increasing demand for more effective and innovative cooling techniques. One of the most efficient cooling techniques currently in use is heat pipes. Heat pipes have been extensively used to transfer excess heat from a heat-producing component such as a microprocessor in a computer or an electronic instrument in a spacecraft, while maintaining the temperature within a specified range. The advantages of these devices over conventional cooling techniques include lack of moving parts, robustness, and the ability to transfer large amounts of heat. To meet the challenging thermal cooling requirements, new heat pipe designs have been emerging. This proposed research project focuses on two highly efficient heat pipe designs: arterial and loop heat pipes. Although important progress has been made in the recent past in designing these systems, some operational aspects are far from being understood. One of the major difficulties hindering more advanced development of these devices is the absence of realistic mathematical models. Heat pipe operation relies on the phase change of fluid in a porous structure. The evaporation of liquid from a porous structure is among the most challenging problems. Experimental work is also highly challenging because of the very small scales involved.