AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF HYBRID OSCILLATING HEAT PIPE

A novel oscillating heat pipe (OHP) has been constructed and experimentally investigated featuring a meandering channel formed entirely by a wicking structure. The hybrid approach utilizes the wicking structure found in traditional heat pipes, while also utilizing the meandering channels and plug flow of OHPs. Water and acetone were both tested with acetone demonstrating higher peak performance and water demonstrating a wider operating range. While OHPs typically require a high startup power, the hybrid approach presented achieves startup at very low power input and demonstrates a significant improvement in performance over the same device without any working fluid.