Flow visualization within the evaporator of planar loop heat pipe

A planar micro loop heat pipe (LHP) with coherent porous silicon (CPS) wick in the evaporator is a two-phase heat transfer device that utilizes evaporation and condensation to transfer heat. This CPS wick has thousands of pores, which are 2 micrometer in diameter, contained over an area of one square centimeter. As heat is applied to the evaporator, liquid is vaporized and evaporator chamber's pressure is increased. A meniscus formed at the liquid/vapor interface inside the pore of the CPS wick is supported by capillary forces even though pressure force pushes it down. Vapor flows through the vapor line to the condenser and condenses. Liquid is transported back to the evaporator due to pressure difference. The internal thermodynamics and fluid dynamics are poorly understood due to the difficulty of taking internal measurements and the complexity of two-phase phenomena. To understand this thermal device, the clear evaporator machined from Pyrex glass was utilized to monitor the complex phenomena which occur in the evaporator. These phenomena include vapor formation, nucleate boiling, evaporation, depriming, and pressure oscillation. DI-water was utilized as the working fluid.