Mutual Influence of Capillary Pumps in Heat-Pipe Systems with Different Evaporator Loads

Abstract

Thermal management systems that are not hermetically sealed have been developed for use in spacecraft; in such systems, scientific equipment and instruments operate in open space. Accordingly, new methods of thermal regulation have been developed: axial and loop heat pipes; and honeycomb thermal panels with embedded axial heat pipes. Heat transfer in heating systems with heat pipes is based on evaporation and condensation in a two-phase loop. The working fluid moves under the action mainly of capillary forces that appear in capillary channels or honeycomb structures for axial heat pipes and in the porous heated medium (capillary pump) of the loop heat pipes.