Week 5: Pre-Lab

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.