Limitation and Challenges of using Heat Pipe a Comparative Review

A heat pipe can be defined as a heat transfer device consisting of hollow metal pipes which are filled with a liquid coolant. Heat pipes transfer heat by evaporating and condensing in an endless cycle. The prime focus of this review is to provide detailed information on heat pipes including a historical perspective, principles of operations, types of heat pipes, performance characteristics, limitations, heat pipe frozen startup and shutdown, analysis and simulations, and various applications of heat pipes. Over the last several decades, several factors have contributed to a major transformation of heat pipe science and technology. One of the major contribution was the development and advances of new heat pipes, such as loop heat pipes, micro and miniature heat pipes, and pulsating heat pipes. In addition, there are several new commercial applications which have contributed to the recent interest in heat pipes, especially in the fields of electronic cooling and energy. Now days several millions of heat pipes are manufactured each month as all modern laptops uses heat pipes as a CPU cooling device. Numerical modeling, analysis, and experimental simulation of heat pipes have also made significant progress with the better understanding of various physical phenomena in heat pipes.