Abstract
More recently, increased interest in the use of phase-change heat transfer for the thermal control of spacecraft and their electronic components through the use of micro heat pipe devices has resulted in the need for a better understanding of the capillary radius under the influence of linear accelerations in micro grooves. In this paper, a control volume technique is employed to determine the flow charactristics of working fluid in micro heat pipe using capillary grooves as liquid arteries and to incorporate the size and shape of the grooves, the effects of the frictional liquid-vapor interaction and specially the effects of linear acceleration. It is shown that both, the direction and the magnitude of the acceleration have a great effect upon heat transfer capability of micro heat pipes. The analysis presented here provides a mechanism whereby the groove geometry can be optimized with respect to the lengh of the heat pipe and direction and magnitude of linear acceleration in order to obtain the maximum heat transport capability in micro heat pipes utilizing axial grooves as the capillary structure.
