Study on Heat Transport Rate of an Osmotic Heat Pipe : 3rd Report, Estimation of Heat Transport Limits

This paper describes an experimental and theoretical study on the heat transport limits of an osmotic heat pipe operated under the atmospheric pressure, using aqueous polyethylene glycol 600 solution (0.1∼1.0kmol/m3) as the working fluid and 18 tubular-type acetyl cellulose osmotic membranes. As a result, the correlation between the heat transport rate and the osmotic area was revealed, and the effects of the physical properties of the solution and the geometry (i.e. inside diameters of the flow lines, etc.) of the osmotic heat pipe on the heat transport rate were theoretically investigated. Also, the heat transport rate of the present osmotic heat pipe is about 85% compared with that under such an ideal condition that the solution of the average concentration is assumed to be filled in the solution loop.