One-Dimensional Thermal Network for Prediction of Heat Transfer Performance of Flat Heat Pipe

With the increase in the need for cooling electronic equipment, heat pipes based on the evaporation and condensation of refrigerants are becoming more common. These devices are also used to cool military equipment, such as radars. Because of the characteristics of military equipment, heat pipes frequently need to be produced in small numbers and various forms. To predict the effect of design parameter changes in multi-product manufacture on the heat transfer performance of a flat heat pipe, a model was developed using an equivalent thermal network to represent its components. The model was implemented in Excel and verified by comparing the calculated values with experimental data. The variables used in the analysis were the thicknesses of the vapor core, metal wall, and metal wick and the wick structure. The performance index was calculated, and the thermal performance tendency was analyzed according to these variables.