Current Trends in Wick Structure Construction in Loop Heat Pipes Applications: A Review

Abstract

Thermal control systems have been introduced as an important part of electronic devices, enabling thermal management of their electronic components. Loop heat pipe (LHP) is a passive two-phase heat transfer device with significant potential for numerous applications, such as aerospace applications, high-power LEDs, and solar central receivers. Its advantages are high heat transfer capability, low thermal resistance, long-distance heat transfer, and compact structure. The essential role of wick structures on the performance of LHPs has already been highlighted, but no comprehensive review is available that deals with different parameters such as LHP design and wick size, which are largely decisive and effective in achieving a practical level of thermal transmission governed by wick structures. To rely on this necessity, this article summarizes, analyzes, and classifies advancements in the design and fabrication of wick structures. The main conclusion to be drawn after careful monitoring and weighing of the related literature is that LHPs with composites and additively manufactured wicks show a higher heat transfer coefficient than other conventional structures. Indeed, future works should be focused on the design of more structurally efficient wicks, which may allow us to optimize materials and geometrical parameters of wick structure for higher heat transfer through LHPs.

The In-House Method of Manufacturing a Low-Cost Heat Pipe with Specified Thermophysical Properties and Geometry

“…HPs use the heat of evaporation of the working fluid circulating inside the pipe to transfer heat from the heat source to the heat sink and utilize the working fluid's surface tension to produce capillary forces in the porous wick that are necessary to circulate the fluid. The diagram presenting traditional HP containing a wick and its operating principle is presented in Figure 1 [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…HPs are applicable in multiple challenging fields such as thermal energy storage systems, space and terrestrial applications, electronics cooling systems, and medical, military, and solar systems, among others [3][4][5][6][7]. An extensive review on heat pipe technology was conducted by M.J. Gibbons et al for foldable electronic cooling applications [8].…”