EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF INCLINATION ANGLE ON

HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF WICKLESS SOLAR

HEAT PIPE
M. Premalatha*, S. Shanmuga Priya and A. Saravanakumar
Centre for Energy & Environmental Science And Technology (CEESAT),
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620015, TamilNadu. India
Phone: 04312501801, Fax: 04312500131, E-mail: [email protected]
*Corresponding author

ABSTRACT
In this study, experiments were performed to find out how the thermal performance of a wickless copper solar
heat pipe was affected by using different working fluids and different inclination angles. A series of experiments
were carried out to find the influence of the above parameters on heat transfer characteristics of a two-phase
closed thermosyphon under the field conditions of Tiruchirappalli, India. Three identical small-scale wickless
copper heat pipes, using working fluids as Acetone, Methanol and Water, were constructed and tested side-byside under various environmental conditions. Results show interesting performance data stemming from the
difference in working fluids, inclination angle and other various design parameters associated with the collection
and utilization of solar energy. It is observed that the heat transfer efficiency of water heat pipe is comparatively
higher than the methanol and acetone heat pipe for all inclination angles. The closed two-phase thermosyphon
investigated here exhibited the highest heat transport rate at inclinations of around 40 - 45. The experimental
results were compared to the results found in the literature and they showed good agreement. In order to compare
the performance of different heat pipes, the heat input to the heat pipes is taken uniform.

Keywords: Wickless Heat pipe, Phase change, Working fluid, Inclination angle, Heat transfer Efficiency.
1. Introduction
Faghri.A (1995) has reported that the gravity assisted wickless heat pipe is a two-phase closed thermosyphon
tube with a liquid reservoir at its bottom. The addition of heat to the liquid in the lower parts of the wickless heat
pipe (evaporator section) causes the liquid to evaporate. The vapour rises to the top of the wickless heat pipe
(condenser section) where it is condensed, and the condensate returns to the evaporator section as a falling film
on the wickless heat pipe inner surface. As a result, the wickless heat pipe has the ability to transport heat at high
rates over considerable distances (i.e.several metres) in the presence of a small temperature difference. S.A.Nada
et al.(2004) reported that besides, as the wickless heat pipe is working under gravity assisted conditions, it
behaves as a thermal diode. So, the wickless heat pipe is recommended to be used in flat plate solar water heaters
as a solution to the drawbacks of conventional solar collectors. Thus a gravity assisted wickless heat pipe is an
effective heat device and can be used in a wider range of heat input and temperature since it is free from
disadvantage included in a wick heat pipe as large flow resistance and low maximum heat transfer rate by bubble
packing in the wick region.H.F.W.De Vries et al.(1980) investigated theoretically the influence of the pump
control unit of a conventional flat plate solar collector and the diode resistance of a planar wickless heat pipe
solar collector on their efficiencies during periods of transient insolation.They concluded that the performance of
the wickless heat pipe collector was as good as that of a conventional solar collector with fluid circulation
control.
Akyurt.M (1984) designed, manufactured and tested numerous prototypes wickless heat pipe flat plate solar
collectors made of different materials and filled with different working fluids. An extensive testing program
revealed that the wickless heat pipe performs satisfactorily as heat transfer elements in solar collectors without
start up difficulties or gas generation problems.
From a heat transfer analysis and experimental study, Henyue.W (1987) concluded that increasing the heat
transfer surface of the condenser section of the wickless heat pipe was an effective way to improve the
instantaneous efficiency of wickless heat pipe flat plate solar water heaters. AM.Radhwan et al. (1990) reported

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the performance of two R-11 charged integrated solar water heaters with horizontal and inclined condenser was
investigated experimentally for forced and natural circulation water flows. The experimental results showed that
the effect of the condenser inclination on the system efficiency was remarkable for natural circulation, while it
had no significant effect for forced circulation. H.M.S.Hussein et al (2006) experimentally investigated the effect
of wickless heat pipe cross section geometry and its working fluid filling ratio on the performance of flat plate
solar collectors.

2. Experimentation
Heat pipes are available in different wattages and different operating temperatures. The following heat pipes are
used for experimentation.
Table 1: Specification of heat pipes used
SI.No

Operating Temperature (C)

Working fluid

Wattage

Material

1
2
3

50
50
50

Acetone
Methanol
Water

379
518
1300

Copper
Copper
Copper

All three heat pipes were tested simultaneously under same ambient conditions. In this work heat pipes are tested
in continuous mode i.e. water is allowed continuously in to the condenser section. To evaluate the thermal
performance of two phase thermosyphons with different working fluids under same working conditions such as
solar radiation, ambient air temperature, wind velocity, heat pipes were contained within the same collector case.
Thus, three different refrigerants can be simultaneously employed under identical operating conditions.

Figure 1: Section of Heat Pipe

The above figure 1 shows the cross sectional view of the heat pipe used. The thermosyphon used in the
experiment was made of a copper tube of 19 mm inner diameter. The working length of the thermosyphon was
1000 mm and consists of 2 parts; a lower part 500 mm and a upper part of 500 mm as the condenser section. The
500 mm long water jacket surrounding the condenser section consisted of another 600 mm inner diameter PVC
pipe with 10 mm outer diameter inlet and outlet connections located diagonally across each other to induce swirl

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at the inlet. Evaporator section of the heat pipe is covered with a glass tube of 30 mm inner diameter. Thermal
losses due to conduction and convection are eliminated by the vacuum insulation. Four copper constantan
thermocouples are installed to monitor the temperatures of cooling water at the inlet and outlet.
Physical quantities measured are: cooling water temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the heat pipe. Cooling
water flow rate, incidence solar irradiance and ambient air temperature. Temperatures were recorded using a
computer based data logger. A Kipp & Zonen pyranometer integrated to a data logger, mounted on a surface
parallel to the plane of the collector, was used to measure the intensity of the global solar radiation incident on
the collector surface. Experiments were conducted for all three pipes simultaneously with a constant flow rate of
water (100 ml/min) and the results were tabulated.
All measured values during the experiments were taken at 5 min intervals and averaged every half hour. The
two-phase thermosyphon was installed and tested under outdoor field conditions of Tiruchirappali, India (latitude
100 49 48 N; longitude 780 43 12 E; altitude 78 m) Day-long experiments were carried out from 9.00 a.m. to
4.00 p.m.The experiments were performed throughout April and May 2006.The angle of inclination can be
varied from 90 deg (vertical) to 0 deg (horizontal).The experiments are conducted at selected inclination angles
of 90,70,30,15,and 00 C with respect to horizontal. The quantity of heat transferred to the water within the tank
can be calculated by the water temperature variation, taking into account the water quantity and its specific heat.

3. Results And Discussion

The efficiency of each heat pipe at different inclination angles are calculated and graphically represented. In
order to compare the performance of different heat pipes at different inclination angles, those readings with same
solar energy input are only considered.

Figure 2: Variation of Efficiency with respect to

Radiation Intensity for = 0

Figure 4: Variation of Efficiency with respect to

Radiation Intensity for = 30

Figure 3: Variation of Efficiency with respect

to Radiation Intensity for = 15

Figure 5: Variation of Efficiency with respect

to Radiation Intensity for = 45

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[[

Figure 6: Variation of Efficiency with respect to

to Radiation Intensity for =60

90.00

= 0

= 15

= 30

= 45

= 60

= 90

Figure 7: Variation of Efficiency with respect

Radiation Intensity for =90

90.00

= 15

= 30

= 45

= 60

= 90

80.00
efficien cy (% )

efficiency(%)

80.00

= 0

70.00

60.00

70.00

60.00

50.00
3.86 3.98 4.10 4.22 4.34 4.46 4.58 4.70 4.82 4.94 5.06 5.18 5.30

50.00
3.86 3.98 4.10 4.22 4.34 4.46 4.58 4.70 4.82 4.94 5.06 5.18 5.30

radiation intensity (m v)

radiation intensity (m v)

Figure 8: Variation of Efficiency with respect to

Radiation Intensity for acetone heat pipe

= 0
= 45

= 15
= 60

Figure 9: Variation of Efficiency with

respect to Radiation Intensity for
methanol heat pipe

= 30
= 90

e f f ic ie n c y ( % )

90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
3.86 3.98 4.10 4.22 4.34 4.46 4.58 4.70 4.82 4.94 5.06 5.18 5.30
radiation intensity (mv)

Figure 10: Variation of Efficiency with respect to

with Radiation Intensity for water heat pipe

Figure 11: Variation of average Efficiency

respect to angle of inclination for
different heat pipes

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The maximum heat flow rate to be transported depends strongly on the property of the working fluid. Due to the
different thermal characteristics between working fluid used, different performances were found. From the
figures
2 7 it is observed that the heat transfer efficiency of water heat pipe is comparatively higher than the methanol
and acetone heat pipe for all inclination angles. Best performance was obtained using water probably due to its
higher latent heat, higher liquid thermal conductivity, and lower viscosity.
From the Figure 11, it is observed that the heat transfer efficiency increases with inclination angle and reaches a
maximum at about 45 and then there is a steep decrease in the efficiency roughly speaking, the steeper the tube
and the larger the heat flow rate. The aforementioned phenomena take place in all heat pipes irrespective of the
working fluid.
The effect of inclination angle on the efficiency indicates that, at angles of 40 -45, a maximum in efficiency can
be observed; for smaller angles, i.e. for steeper tubes, the maximum heat flow rate decreases and for almost
horizon1tubes (=90") efficiency reaches the smallest values. In order to get a better understanding average
efficiency is plotted against the inclination angle for all heat pipes as shown in figure 11 it is observed that the
heat transfer efficiency peaks at an angle of 400 450. The underlying physical principle is to transport heat
under a driving temperature difference.
There are various proposals to represent the interrelation between heat flow rates and temperature in a
characteristic property. Following the suggestion by AM.Radhwan et al. (1990) an effective thermal conductivity
eff is used here as

eff =

L
Across

(1)

The temperature difference is considered as stretching across a length L from the middle of the heating zone
to the middle of the cooling zone; ACROSS is the cross-sectional area ACROSS = di2 / 4 calculated with the inner
tube diameter di. This effective thermal conductivity includes implicitly all heat transfer regimes occurring in the
thermosyphon. At low heat flow rates, the effective thermal conductivity is nearly constant, especially for tubes
inclined by 30 or more. At higher heat flow rates eff increases, especially for the smaller inclination angles (
40). Even an almost horizontal thermosyphon ( = 80) transports heat more than 100 times better than a
copper rod with the same dimensions as the siphon
In summary, based on all results in Figures. 2-11, a reasonable similarity is obtained between the present
experimental results and the results of two - phase closed thermosyphon studied by D. Ristoiu et
al.(2003) and E. Hahne and U. Gross et al (1981).

4. Conclusion
The basic aim of the experiments conducted was to determine the thermal performance of wickless heat-pipe
under real operating conditions using three different working fluids (water, acetone and methanol) and different
inclination angles. The heat pipes did not present start up difficulties. It was found that the fluid of the highest
solar thermal energy collection performance among the three working fluids used in this experimental
investigation was water.
There exists a range of inclination angle at which the thermosyphon shows the better performance than the
vertical position, i.e. the critical heat transfer rate is higher and the thermal resistance is lower. The closed twophase thermosyphon investigated here exhibited the highest heat transport rate at inclinations of around 45. For
uniform temperature distribution along the thermosyphon the large temperature drop in the cooling zone should
be avoided by disturbing the formation of a laminar film or keeping such a film as thin as possible. Inside fins or
grooves in the cooling zone can act positively to this goal as well as the selection of a fluid with advantageous
properties.
The results shown in the present work may be used in the design and construction of a compact solar collector
using different working fluids to transfer heat collected by a flat plate with heat pipes to heat water. Generally
speaking, refrigerant charged domestic hot water systems combine good energy behaviour with simplicity in
manufacture, the use of common flat-plate solar collectors without significant alterations of the existing

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production line, good behaviour in freezing and overheating, and an absence of moving parts or external
pumping power. This study can be useful to system designers in the selection of an appropriate working fluid.
In future studies, the effect of the number of the thermosyphon tubes of the collector on the water temperature
rise and the collection efficiency should be investigated. In further study one can study the performance of
wickless heat pipe flat plate solar collectors having different pipes cross sections geometries and filling ratios
More experimental results are needed to investigate the optimum filling ratio of wickless heat pipe solar
collectors of different cross-sectional geometries with different working fluids.
One can study the effect of cooling water flow rate on the collector efficiency and can determine optimum
cooling water mass flow rate at which the collector efficiency is a maximum. The experimental results show that
at the optimum cooling water mass flow rate there is an optimum number of thermosyphon tubes at which the
collector efficiency is a maximum.

References
1.
2.

Akyurt, M.,1984, Development of heat pipes for solar water heaters, Solar Energy, 32(5),625 631.
H.F.W.De Vries, W.Kamminga, J.C.Francken, 1980, Fluid circulation control in conventional and heat
pipe
3. planar solar collectors, Solar Energy,24,209 213.
4. Faghri A., 1995, Heat pipe science and technology, second edition. Taylor and Francis publishers, London,
2-25.
5. E.Hahne, U.Gross, 1981, The influence of the inclination angle on the performance of a closed two-phase
6. thermosyphon,The Recovery Systems,Vol ,267-274.
7. Henyue W., 1987, International Journal of Solar Energy, 5,237.
8. H.M.S.Hussein, H.H.El-Ghetany, S.A.Nada, 2006, Performance of wickless heat pipe flat plate collectors
having
9. different pipes cross sections geometries and filling ratios, Energy Conversion and Management, 47,1539
1549.
10. S.A.Nada, H.El-Ghetany, H.M.S.Hussein, 2004, Performance of a two-phase closed thermosyphon solar
collector with a shell and tube heat exchanger, Applied Thermal Engineering, 24, 1959-1968.
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12. D.Ristoiu, T.Ristoiu, C.Cosma and D.Cenan, 2003, Experimental investigation of inclination angle on the
heat transfer characteristics of closed two-phase thermosyphon, BPU-5:Fifth General Conference of the
Balkan Physical Union,Vrnjacka Banja,Serbia and Montenegro, August 25-29,2003.