Full Title Loop Heat Pipes for Thermal Control Systems Tech Area / Field

• NNE-HCS: Non-Nuclear Energy / Heating and Cooling Systems
• SAT-STM: Space, Aircraft and Surface Transportation / Spacecraft Trajectories and Mechanics

Brief Description of Technology
Loop heat pipes (LHPs) are two-phase capillary pumped heat-transfer devices with a capillary structure (wick) which is localized in the heat-supply zone, and vapor and liquids are transferred along separate smooth-walled pipelines of relatively small diameters. Due to the optimal design, as well as the utilization of special fine-porous wicks having a pore size of about 1 m and a porosity of 50-70%, LHPs are capable of ensuring efficient heat transfer over distances of up to 10 m at any orientation in the gravity field. The heat-transfer length may achieve several dozen meters when an LHP operates at horizontal position or in a floating position (in weightlessness). Furthermore, neither additional power sources nor forced pumping means are used. It is possible to create both miniature and large ramified heat-transfer systems of various configurations with flexible links between heat-source and heat-sink on the basis of LHPs. The value of heat-flow being transferred would be in the range from several watts to several kilowatts at operating temperatures from -20 °C to 200 °C.

The technical characteristics of LHPs and their range of potential capabilities provide a considerable advantage over all other similar devices.

The baseline LHP was awarded with a gold medal at the International Leipzig Fair in 1984.

Legal Aspects
The different LHP variants are protected by more than 20 Russian Author Certificates and patents, as well as by US patent No.4.515.209, Japanese patent No.62-42236, German patent No. DE 3301998c2, French patent No.2.540.613, and Italian Patent No.1.161.603.

Special Facilities in Use and Their Specifications
A whole set of equipment is required to manufacture experimental LHP samples and perform laboratory tests.

Scientific Papers
The authors of the above research proposal have published more than 100 papers, presentations and reports on the various aspects of the development, investigation and application of LHPs, including:

Yu.F.Maidanik, Yu.G.Fershtater, N.N.Solodovnik. Loop Heat Pipes: Design, Investigation, Prospects of Use in Aerospace Techniques. SAE Aerospace Atlantic Conference, 1994, Daton, USA, Pap. No.941185.

Yu.F.Maidanik, Yu.G.Fershtater, V.G.Pastukhov, S.V.Vershinin, K.A.Goncharov. Some Results of Loop Heat Pipes Development, Tests and Application in Engineering. 5th Int. Heat Pipe Symposium, 1996, Melbourne, Australia.

Yu.F.Maidanik, Yu.G.Fershtater, V.G.Pastukhov, S.V.Vershinin, Some Results of Development of Loop Heat Pipes. CPL-96 Int. Workshop on Capillary Pumped Two-Phase Loops, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 1996.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20