抄録
Since heat pipes were introduced into space-related technical society during sixties, their terrestrial applications have been enthusiastically sought and many improvements in their manufacturing processes as well as in the system design have been done. Main application fields in the terrestrial use of the heat pipes are (1) the civil engineering use in cold and snowy region for frozen protection, (2) the cooling of machines and electronics, and (3) the waste heat recovery systems.
The terrestrial operation of the heat pipes is inevitably influenced by the earth gravitaional field, and the thermosyphon mode of their operation is most common. The dynamic flow effects necessarily induced during such operation have brought strong impetus to the fundamental research scientists of the non-equilibrium, multi-phase flow field within the heat pipes. Thus the concept of the heat pipes are greatly expanded into “a closed system within which phase-changing process is taking place”, and such new ideas as heat pipe=engine and heat pipe-heat pump have been introduced and studied widely.
