Bendable Heat Pipe With Axial Wick And Separator Plate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat pipes in low-gravity environments are susceptible to bubble-induced failures due to non-condensable gases and have limited flexibility and heat transport capabilities, making them unsuitable for high-performance applications like space vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A bendable heat pipe design with an axial wick insert, featuring a flexible tube and separator plate that divides the interior volume into gas-phase and liquid-phase passages, and vent holes to prevent gas bubble blockage, along with a splitter to enhance capillary pressure and heat transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional arterial heat pipes use capillary wicks to circulate liquid in low-gravity environments, then liquid circulation is enabled, but bubble-induced failures occur and priming fails
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pipe is divided into distinct functional zones: a liquid phase artery for liquid circulation, a gas phase region for vapor transport, and a two-phase region with a separator plate. This segmentation prevents gas bubbles from blocking the liquid artery by providing a dedicated gas phase region and vent holes that allow bubbles to escape laterally, resolving the bubble-induced failure problem while maintaining reliable operation in low-gravity environments
Solution Approach 2:
A separator plate with vent holes acts as an intermediary structure between the liquid phase artery and gas phase region. The vent holes provide a controlled interface that allows gas bubbles to transition from the liquid phase to the gas phase, preventing bubble accumulation and blockage in the liquid artery while enabling continuous liquid circulation
2Adaptability or versatility
If heat pipes are made rigid for structural stability, then manufacturing and assembly are simplified, but flexibility for deployment is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pipe incorporates a flexible bellows structure with multiple convolutions that allows the device to bend and deform while maintaining structural integrity. This flexible shell design enables deployment in space applications where the heat pipe needs to be stowed compactly and then expanded to its operational configuration, providing adaptability without excessive complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The heat pipe transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic flexible structure that can change its configuration. The bellows structure allows the heat pipe to expand, contract, and bend, enabling it to adapt to different deployment states while the internal wick and separator plate structures maintain their functional relationships throughout the motion
3Productivity
If porous wick inserts are used in heat pipes, then flexibility is improved, but heat transport capability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat pipe employs a composite structure combining a flexible bellows shell with a rigid internal wick and separator plate assembly. This composite design allows the external structure to provide flexibility and deformation capability while the internal rigid components maintain the capillary channels and separator geometry necessary for high heat transport capability, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and heat transport performance
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides improved heat transport capabilities, mechanical flexibility, and resistance to gas bubble blockage, enabling effective heat management in low-gravity environments and allowing for the deployment of heat pipes in space vehicles.
Implementation Method 1
a separator plate comprising two lateral edges that are disposed proximate to the inner contact points of the tube so as to divide the interior volume into a gas-phase passage and a liquid-phase artery
Implementation Method 2
Some low-gravity heat pipes provide arterial wicks wherein the arteries carrying the liquid-phase working fluid are separated from the gas-phase region by a capillary-scale slot or a fine-weave mesh
Implementation Method 3
The vent hole has a diameter that is greater than or equal to a diameter of the largest circle that can be inscribed within the liquid-phase artery
Implementation Method 4
a liquid-phase working fluid is provided to an evaporator whereupon the working fluid extracts heat from the evaporator and is converted to a vapor-phase by evaporation
Implementation Method 5
The vapor-phase working fluid is conveyed to a condenser wherein the working fluid rejects heat to a heat sink by condensation and is thereby returned to the liquid-phase
Data Source
AI summary
A heat pipe has an evaporator portion, a condenser portion, and at least one flexible portion that is sealingly coupled between the evaporator portion and the condenser portion. The flexible portion has a flexible tube and a flexible separator plate held in place within the flexible tube so as to divide the flexible tube into a gas-phase passage and a liquid-phase artery. The separator plate and flexible tube are configured such that the flexible portion is flexible in a plane that is perpendicular to the separator plate.