Abstract:
In this communication, a grooved flat plate heat pipe is considered
with an electric field applied between the top and bottom
plates of the heat pipe. In this way, a dielectric force arises,
which aims at pumping the liquid phase together with the capillary
force. The ability of the electric field to change the shape
of the liquid-vapor interface is theoretically investigated by a numerical
approach. This approach consists in the strong coupling
between the Laplace-Young equation, extended with the electric
stress, and the Poisson equation for the electric potential. The
former is used for the calculation of the shape of the liquid-vapor
interface while the latter is solved for the determination of the
electric stress along the interface. The results show that the electric
field can extend the capillary limit of the heat pipe by increasing
the maximum curvature of the liquid-vapor interface before
the meniscus recession. This effect is even greater than the electric
pumping effect for non-wetting fluids. A final discussion is
presented to highlight the configurations for which the use of an
electric field yields significant improvements to the performance
of a grooved flat plate heat pipe.
Description:
Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .
