Entrainment limits in heat pipes

Abstract

The present work explores the physical basis for the entrainment limit in heat pipes and attempts to develop adequate quantitative criteria for the limit. Analogy is emphasized here between the entrainment phenomenon in heat pipes and the flooding phenomenon in countercurrent vapor-liquid flow systems. The maximum operating heat-transfer rates for various heat pipes due to entrainment limitation are established semiempirically by way of modifying existing flooding correlations. While the present results are successful in correlating the limited experimental data available, further experimental studies are needed in assessing the validity of the established criteria.