An analysis of heat transfer in horizontal rotating heat pipes

The heat transfer performance of coaxial straight heat pipes in high-speed rotation has been analyzed. The parameters are the geometry of the pipe, the kind of working fluid, the mass of the working fluid charged in the pipe, the rotation rate and the heat load. As a result of the analysis, the distribution of film thickness in the pipe, the Nusselt number of the evaporator and condenser section, and the dryout conditions at the end of the evaporator section were found. The Nusselt number from the present analysis is compared with the experiment by Ohtsuka et al. The predictions are is good agreement with the experimental data in the condenser section, but are about 80 100% lower in the evaporator section.