Development Of An Oscillating Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger For Automotive Heat Dissipation

An oscillating heat pipe is a relatively new type of heat pipe that offers several advantages,including good thermal conductivity,a compact structure,and the ability to easily change shape.This makes it an ideal solution for many heat dissipation problems in narrow spaces,particularly when there is a large demand for heat exchange in a limited area,such as the interior cabin of an automobile.This paper focuses on the development of an oscillating heat pipe heat exchanger for temperature regulation and heat dissipation in the cabin of automobiles.The heat transfer ability of the oscillating flow heat pipe heat exchanger was studied through a series of experiments.The heat exchanger comprises 30 rows of oscillating heat pipes,with an outer diameter of 2mm,an inner diameter of 1mm,and a total height of 326mm.It is divided into an upper outdoor cold end compartment and a lower indoor hot end compartment,with fans installed at both ends.The heat transfer process of the oscillating heat pipe heat exchanger was analyzed using a thermal resistance network model,and the heat transfer coefficient was calculated to be 77.25W/(m2 K).To verify the heat exchanger’s performance in real-world conditions,a forced convection experimental platform and wind tunnel were designed and built.The effect of different inlet temperatures and wind speeds on the heat transfer ability of oscillating flow heat pipes and heat exchangers were investigated.The results of the experiments showed that the operating characteristics of oscillating flow heat pipes in heat exchangers are affected by the inlet temperature and inlet wind speed at the hot and cold ends.The heat transfer capacity of the oscillating flow heat pipe heat exchanger gradually decreases with the increase of the cold end temperature.Under the optimal working condition,the thermal resistance of the heat pipe is only 0.093℃/W.The heat transfer coefficient of the oscillating flow heat pipe heat exchanger also decreases with the increase of the cold end inlet,and it is related to the thermal resistance of the oscillating flow heat pipe at different cold and hot end temperatures.The heat transfer coefficient is 85.34 W/(m2 K)at a cold end temperature of 35℃.However,the heat transfer ability of the heat exchanger at high wind speed is much better than at low wind speed.The heat exchanger was modeled in three dimensions and simulated using ANS YS Fluent to analyze the air flow and heat transfer process.The convective heat transfer coefficient of each row of oscillating flow heat pipes during the heat transfer process was explored.