Numerical simulation on steady-state heat transfer characteristic of a novel gravity-assisted heat pipe heat exchanger

A novel gravity-assisted heat pipe heat exchanger was presented. By reasonable simplification, a physical model of a single vertical channel was set up, and a mathematical model of steady-state heat transfer for condenser section and evaporator section was established respectively which adopted uniform heat flux boundary condition. The numerical simulation was carried out by engineering equation solver (EES). The results show that the numerical solution of thermal resistance varies in a very small range, which can not reflect the change of thermal resistance with the change of filling ratio; The liquid film becomes thicker when the heating power increases; the height of liquid pool in evaporator section increases with the increase of filling ratio; the height of liquid pool at lower heating power is higher than that at higher heating power when the filling ratio is lower, but the result is reverse if the filling ratio is higher.