The Laboratorial Research of Two-Phase Free Convection Devices for Cooling of Materials and Industrial Machines

• Main Author: Gorelik, Jack
• Other Authors: Khabitov, Artur
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Technology & Engineering; bisacsh:TEC000000; permafrost
• Online Access: https://openresearchlibrary.org/viewer/99b4e4e6-cb60-4678-823c-12715ebf528b; https://openresearchlibrary.org/ext/api/media/99b4e4e6-cb60-4678-823c-12715ebf528b/assets/external_content.pdf

Refrigeration systems based on free convection (two-phase thermosyphons) are used for cooling equipment units in chemical, nuclear power, and steel-making industries, as well as for thermal stabilization of natural materials with temperature-dependent properties, such as permafrost. Results of laboratory testing are reported for two types of thermosyphons applied mainly to the thermal stabilization of frozen ground: (a) vertical tubes with finning and (b) systems with horizontal evaporation tubes (HET systems). Their uses are currently restricted to relatively small thermal loads, but the effect of the loads on the cooling performance remains poorly investigated. Theoretical analysis of internal and external heat transfer in a vertical thermosyphon provides constraints on the boundary conditions at the evaporator wall, to be used in formulating and solving problems on the temperature regime of frozen ground stabilized with thermosyphons. Comparison of measured and calculated parameters that characterize the operation of a model HET system allows improving the calculation quality by applying the respective corrections.