MODELLING AND ANALYSIS OF FLAT PLATE HEAT PIPE WITH SINTERED WICK

The main objective of this paper is to present an analytical- numerical two dimensional model for the flow and heat transfer in a heat pipe of rectangular section and porous wick. The proposed model is based upon using equations of mass conservation, momentum and energy for both vapor and liquid streams. The system of equations and the associated boundary conditions were discretized using the "LOAD" scheme due to Wong and Raithby. The numerical solution was performed using algotithm "SIMPLE" due to Patankar and Spalding and an iterative line-by-line scheme.
Using water as the working fluid and bronze sintered wick, the results obtained show the distributions of temperature, velocity and pressure in the vapor and liquid regions.