Investigation of the Polymer Wick Structure Applied to Loop Heat Pipe

Polymer wick structure has the advantages that include high porosity, low thermal conductivity coefficient and lower manufacturing cost etc. However the relative researches on applying the polymer wick structure to LHP is still not familiar to date. Hence, the present effort seeks to set up the design, fabrication and test capacity of the polymer wick which is applicable to LHP. Based on the operating limitation and characteristics of LHP, poly-metyl methacrylate is chosen as the material and the polymer wick structure is fabricated by salt leaching method. Besides, after the polymer wick structure is made, the wick parameters that include pore radius and permeability are measured. The wick test system was made by our self .its help the prediction of the heat transfer.

The testing results show that, the arithmetic average pore diameter is 14 , and the porosity can be controlled within the range of 50~82%. Summarizing the dependent permeability of the polymer wicks upon different porosities, an empirical equation between permeability and porosity expressed as Kw=2.0×10^-10×ε^15.64 is established. This equation would help the prediction of the heat transfer capacity of LHP.