Experimental Investigation of Evaporation of Methanol and n-Pentane on a Submerged Capillary Structure

The heat transfer limit of heat pipes is investigated by pool boiling experiments in a standard apparatus with a capillary layer placed on a copper tube. The capillary layer is a hollow cylinder made of bronze with a wall thickness of 2 mm and the test fluids are methanol and n-pentane. The setting is comparable to high-flux tubes already investigated in the literature. In dependence on the heat flux, three to four sections with different characteristics are identified. Compared to plain copper tubes, the heat transfer is partially increased by a factor of 12 until the limit is reached at around 70 kW m−2.