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Enhanced Heat Transport in a Pulsating Heat Pipe Using a Self-Rewetting Working Fluid

Koji Fumoto, Mechanical Engineering, Kushiro National College of Technology, Otanoike W2-32-1, Kushiro, 084-0916, Japan and Masahiro Kawaji, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3E5, Canada.

New experimental results will be reported on the enhancement of heat transport by a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) using a self-rewetting fluid as a working fluid. Self-rewetting fluids have a property that the surface tension increases with temperature unlike other common liquids. The increasing surface tension at a higher temperature means that the liquid will be drawn towards a heated surface if a dry spot appears. Thus, in boiling, a dryout phenomenon may be prevented at a higher heat flux. In the present experiment, butanol was added to water at a concentration of less than 1 wt% to make the self-rewetting fluid. A pulsating heat pipe made from an extruded multiport tubing was partially filled with the butanol-water mixture and tested for its heat transport capability at different input power levels. One end of the PHP was heated using a copper block equipped with two cartridge heaters. A fin was attached to the opposite end to be cooled by a fan. The experiments showed that the maximum heat transport capability was enhanced by a factor of four when the maximum heater temperature was limited to 120 degrees C. Thus, the use of a self-rewetting fluid in a PHP has been shown to be highly effective in improving the heat transport capability of pulsating heat pipes.