Numerical Simulation Study on Freezing Characteristics of Water Heat Pipe Used for Spacecraft
Heat pipes have important applications in space exploration project and are important thermal conductive elements of spacecraft.In this paper,by introducing the capillary momentum source term,the working characteristics and possible freezing process of a water heat pipe at de-sign and low power working conditions are numerically investigated.The results show that when the water heat pipe works at the design working condition,there is a shear effect on the surface of the vapor and the liquid film,and the temperature of the heat pipe decreases along the axial direc-tion,and the maximum temperature difference in the axial direction does not exceed 3 K,which has good isothermality.At the low power working condition,the temperature of the condenser section of the heat pipe reduces below the melting point of the working fluid.The working fluid is frozen and deposited,and the low temperature zone gradually spreads to the end of the con-denser section,where the frozen deposition finally blocks the wick.Thus,the heat pipe no longer maintains the isothermality and the heat transfer ability,resulting in failure.This study result provides a reference for the long-term stable operation design of heat pipe,and provides a scien-tific reference for the successful guarantee of space exploration project.
water heat pipe used for spacecraftlow power conditioncapillary flowfrozen deposi-tion
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