Boiling and Evaporation From Heat Pipe Wicks With Water and Acetone

Abstract

Heat transfer for pool boiling with flaxes in the range of 5 × 102 5 × 104 Btu/(ft2 hr) and the associated excess of wall over saturation temperatures are presented, primarily for atmospheric pressure, for vertical tubes in water, ethanol, and acetone, bare or wrapped with screen or felt metal. For the wrapped tubes, this performance is given also for evaporation into surrounding saturated vapor with the liquid being supplied by the wick: this is the significant mode in respect to heat pipe applications. For this mode maximum evaporation rates are also indicated and it is shown that this maximum can be rationalized either in terms of a partially full wick with conduction transfer to the evaporation surface or in terms of a full wick with vapor holes originating at nucleation sites on the tube surface.