THE MINIMUM MENISCUS RADIUS AND CAPILLARY HEAT-TRANSPORT LIMIT IN MICRO HEAT PIPES

Based on the momentum conservation and Laplace-Young equations, an ana lytical expression for the minimum meniscus radius was derived and an expression for the maximum capillary heat transport limit in micro/sma ll heat pipes was obtained These expressions incorporated the shear st resses at the liquid/solid and liquid/vapor interfaces, contact angle effects, vapor pressure drop, tilt angle, groove dimensions, and chann el angle effects. In order to verify the expressions derived herein, c omparisons with experimental data from triangular grooves and micro he at pipes were made; they demonstrated that these equations can be used to predict the maximum capillary hear transport in the micro/small tr iangular grooves or micro hear pipes with a higher degree of accuracy, and they can explain the behavior better than previously developed mo dels.