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Week 5: Pre-Lab

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It was realized during the testing in Week 4 that a significant design change was required in order to boost the function of the heat pipe. The team assumed that a smaller diameter pipe would improve working fluid circulation at higher temperature values but it was soon discovered that this was not necessarily true. Our results showed a decreased performance with smaller pipe diameters and longer heat pipe lengths. To combat this issue, a redevelopment of the heat pipe design is necessary. One of the vital pieces of a heat pipe is that the interior is in a partial vacuum or the pipe is completely evacuated of air allowing for maximum working fluid circulation. This important component in the design of a heat pipe gives it its function to rapidly disperse heat from one end to the other. As demonstrated in this video. Future heat pipe designs are going to utilize a method to evacuate air from the pipe to provide a near vacuum. The vacuum is essential to higher efficiency heat pipes in all different pipe diameters. The team is going to look into borrowing a vacuum pump from a department on campus and purchase a small valve to seal off the pipe end after pipe evacuation. This should, in theory, allow the team to construct a heat pipe with high efficiency.
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Week 5: Lab

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Week 6: Lab

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Week 7

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This week in lab the team finished the construction of the final heat pipe design and was able to find a vacuum pump to test how a heat pipe would perform under vacuum. Unfortunately, the results were not promising as the new heat pipe did not nearly work as it was expected to. For the final heat pipe, one end is closed, while the other end is equipped with a valve, as shown below, that can be used to add working fluid and connect to the vacuum pump to create vacuum. After the air is pumped out, the heat pipe is tested with acetone and with water as working fluids. The result is not as well as expected. More experiments will be conducted on this heat pipe next week. The results of the experimentation done are shown below:
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