Study on Heat Transfer Performance of High Temperature Potassium Heat Pipe at Steady State

The heat transfer performance of heat pipe was studied theoretically and experimentally by using potassium metal as working medium in this paper. Firstly, the influence of heating power and inclination angle on heat transfer performance of heat pipe was studied experimentally. The results show that the increase of heating power of heat pipe is beneficial to the improvement of heat transfer efficiency. The inclination angle has positive and negative effects on heat transfer performance. On the one hand, with the increase of inclination angle, the instability of liquid film in condenser section leads to the deterioration of heat transfer. On the other hand, the increase of inclination angle causes gravity to accelerate the reflux of liquid working medium and thin the liquid film in condenser section, enhancing the heat transfer. Under the joint action of the two, with the increase of inclination angle, the equivalent thermal resistance of the heat pipe gradually increases and tends to be stable. Secondly, based on the network method of thermal resistance, the mathematical and physical model of potassium heat pipe was established, and the design and analysis program of heat pipe was developed based on the idea of modular program. Compared with the experimental data, the overall error of the two is within 2.7%, which verifies the rationality of the model. In a word, this paper provides data and theory for the design and optimization of alkali metal high temperature heat pipe.