Heat Mass Transfer

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-017-2201-6

ORIGINAL

Thermal performance analysis of a flat heat pipe working

with carbon nanotube-water nanofluid for cooling of a high
heat flux heater
A. Arya 1 & M. M. Sarafraz 2 & S. Shahmiri 3 & S. A. H. Madani 4 & V. Nikkhah 2 & S. M. Nakhjavani 5

Received: 14 May 2017 / Accepted: 16 October 2017

# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Abstract Experimental investigation on the thermal perfor- screen mesh structure, which changes the contact angle of
mance of a flat heat pipe working with carbon nanotube liquid with the surface, intensifying the capillary forces.
nanofluid is conducted. It is used for cooling a heater working
at high heat flux conditions up to 190 kW/m2. The heat pipe is Keywords Flat heat pipe . Screen mesh . Heat transfer .
fabricated from aluminium and is equipped with rectangular Carbon nanotube . Thermal performance
fin for efficient cooling of condenser section. Inside the heat
pipe, a screen mesh was inserted as a wick structure to facil-
itate the capillary action of working fluid. Influence of differ- Nomenclature
ent operating parameters such as heat flux, mass concentration I Current, A
of carbon nanotubes and filling ratio of working fluid on ther- L Length (height of heat pipe), m
mal performance of heat pipe and its thermal resistance are h Heat transfer coefficient, W/m2. K
investigated. Results showed that with an increase in heat flux, q Heat flux, kW/m2
the heat transfer coefficient in evaporator section of the heat Q Applied heat, Watt
pipe increases. For filling ratio, however, there is an optimum R Thermal resistance of the heat pipe, K/W
value, which was 0.8 for the test heat pipe. In addition, CNT/ T Temperature, K or °C
water enhanced the heat transfer coefficient up to 40% over V Voltage, v
the deionized water. Carbon nanotubes intensified the thermal Acronyms and subscripts
performance of wick structure by creating a fouling layer on a Adiabatic
e Evaporator
c Condenser
DI Deionized
* M. M. Sarafraz HTE Heat transfer enhancement
mohamadmohsensarafraz@gmail.com

1
School of Engineering and Technology, Purdue University, IUPUI,
1 Introduction
Indianapolis, IN, USA
2
Faculty of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Semnan
Due to the limited energy and material resources, thermal en-
University, Semnan, Iran ergy saving, storage, and transfer have become important re-
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lamar University,
search topics over the past few decades [1]. For an enhanced
Beaumont, TX 77710, USA heat transfer, one of the most effective options is to apply
4
School of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy
nanofluids as heat transfer medium. Special attention has re-
Conversion, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), cently been paid to apply the nanotechnology, particularly
Narmak, Tehran 16846-13114, Iran nanofluid in order to enhance the performance of different pro-
5
Department of Toxico/Pharmacology, Shahid Beheshti School of cesses in various fields such as medical [2–13] and cancer
Pharmacy, Tehran, Iran treatment [14–21] and thermal processes [8, 18, 22–27].

Nanofluids are dispersions of nanometre-sized particles (usual-
ly <100 nm in size) in a base fluid [28]. The nanoparticles are
usually carbon nanoparticles (CNP) and/or nanotubes (CNT) or
metal oxides (CuO [29, 30], SiO2 [31], Al2O3 [32–34], TiO2
[35], ZnO [36], Fe2O3 [37]) and the base fluid could be water,
ethylene-glycol [33], ethanol [35], engine oil, etc. Nanofluids
are relatively new materials with variety of applications includ-
ing, but not limited to drug delivery [38–40], enhance oil re-
covery [41–45], and heat transfer. Nanofluids exhibit enhanced
thermal conductivity and superior heat transfer coefficients
compared to their base fluids [46–49].
Heat pipes are efficient compact tools with incredibly high
heat transfer coefficients [50]. So far, different types heat pipe
have been introduced and classified based on their geometry
and structure, working fluid, and/or operating temperature
[50, 51]. Depending on their type and operating conditions,
their effective thermal conductivity can easily exceed 100 kW/
(m.K) which is by far greater than the conductivity of any
thermal conductive element [50]. These incredible heat trans-
fer devices usually utilize phase change of the working fluid
for heat transfer and they take advantage from enhanced heat
transfer coefficient for boiling and condensation [29, 52–57].
In fact, heat pipes are considerably small heat transfer devices,
which are able to transfer large quantity of thermal energy at
no cost. The flat mesh wicked heat pipes are one of the sim-
plest and most effective heat pipes which can be conveniently
used for micro-device cooling, computers, solar energy col-
lectors, etc. [22, 24, 29, 52, 58–60]. Since HPs are designed
based on fluid evaporation/condensation, their efficiency and
heat transfer rate are limited by the working fluid. Studies
have shown that nanofluids can significantly enhance heat
transfer characteristics of heat exchangers, including heat
pipes. For review see [1, 61].
Effects of the heat pipe operating conditions when they are
operated with nanofluids have been studied in the literature.
Majority of these studies report that the effect of these operating
conditions for the nanofluid-operated heat pipes is similar to
those for normal-fluid operated heat pipes. Some of these oper-
ating conditions are filling ratio [32, 62, 63], inclination angle
[29, 32, 64], operating temperature [64], and heat flux [64, 65].
In heat pipes, nanofluid is loaded into the evaporator section; the
nanoparticle transfer from the liquid phase along the heat pipe
length via evaporation is still a matter of disagreement.
Nanoparticle properties such as size, shape, and material, affect
heat pipe’s heat transfer characteristics. However, since phase
change is the heat transfer mechanism in heat pipes, this influ-
ence is different from other heat transfer devices without a phase
change [61]; usually more enhancement in the heat transfer
coefficient in the evaporator section is reported [29, 66] and in
most of the reported studies, condenser heat transfer coefficient
is independent of presence of nanofluids [67–69].
Fouling is known as one of the most important deficiency
factors in heat exchangers. Fouling results in additional
Heat Mass Transfer
thermal resistance on the exchanger wall, corrosion and dam-
age to the exchanger walls, reduction in the fluid cross sec-
tional area and redistribution of fluid flow, pressure drop, and
possible vibration of exchanger due to the non-uniform distri-
bution of fluid flow [70, 71]. Fouling mitigation has been the
subject of many heat transfer researches over the past few
decades. Several techniques are employed to mitigate fouling
in heat exchangers. Changing the heat exchanger geometry
[72], employing fouling resistant chemicals and reducing the
exchange temperature [73], exchanger material reselection
[74], and maintenance planning of heat exchangers [75] are
proposed in the literature as solutions.
We believe the effect of fouling in exchangers is even
more important when a nanofluid is used as heat transfer
medium. Any instability of nanofluids results in deposition
of nanoparticles, which intensifies fouling formation on the
heat exchanger walls. At high temperatures, nanoparticles
have more thermal energy to overcome energy barrier in
t h e D LV O t h e o r y a n d a g g l o m e r a t i o n o c c u r s .
Consequently, nanofluids are less stable at high tempera-
tures and this fouling problem becomes specifically impor-
tant when the exchanger works at elevated temperatures.
Despite importance of fouling in presence of nanofluids,
this subject has attracted minor attention in the literature. A
model to predict the formation of fouling of copper-oxide/
water nanofluid in the conventional heat exchanger is pre-
sented by Nikkhah et al. [76], which works for almost the
all cases with a deviation of 30% from experimental data.
They also investigated the influence of heat and mass flux
and nanofluid concentration on the fouling formation.
To the best of our knowledge, no systematic study on the
fouling formation in heat pipes exists in the literature. Fouling
formation is usually considered as a deficiency factor in ex-
changers. However, since heat pipes employ boiling and con-
densation heat transfers, the mechanism of heat transfer is
different and consequently the effect of fouling is somehow
different from other exchangers. Of course, fouling in heat
pipes results in all the deficiencies as mentioned earlier.
However, fouling in heat pipes can trigger the nucleation for-
mation on the heat exchanger wall, which enhances boiling
and condensation heat transfer.
In the present study, a CNT/water nanofluid was used as a
working fluid in a wick flat heat pipe. Different heat loads
were applied to the heat pipe, temperature profile along the
heat pipe structure was monitored, and, heat transfer coeffi-
cients in evaporator section and overall heat transfer coeffi-
cients were calculated and analysed. Effect of nanofluid on the
heat transfer at different sections of the heat pipe was carefully
analysed and discussed. Overall heat transfer coefficient and
the total thermal resistance of the heat pipe were calculated
and analysed for different concentrations of nanofluid and
different heat loads. Effect of filling ratio of the heat pipe on
the heat transfer performance was studied. Detailed
Heat Mass Transfer
mechanism of heat transfer in the heat pipe was briefly
discussed. Fouling formation of particles on the screen mesh
wick is introduced and discussed to be a positive phenome-
non, which enhances the heat transfer coefficient.
2 Experimental
2.1 Experimental setup
Figure 1 presents a schematic diagram of the experimental
setup used in this work. The test rig consists of three main
sections: 1) charging/discharging loop including a centrifugal
pump, pipes, valves and a bypass cycle; 2) flat heat pipe
including evaporator, adiabatic section, condenser and a
screen mesh as a wick structure; 3) measurement instruments
including a multi-meter, AC autotransformer, thermocouples
and pressure transducers and an ultrasonic flow meter. To
charge the heat pipe, tank is loaded with CNT/water
nanofluid and depending on the filling ratio (ratio of the vol-
ume of working fluid to volume of heat pipe), heat pipe is
charged with working fluid. Inlet and outlet pressure of the
heat pipe is constantly monitored. However, influence of
pressure on the performance of heat pipe is beyond the scope
of this work. Amount of working fluid charged into the heat
pipe is measured by an ultrasonic flow meter (Flownetix) and
it is verified by the results obtained from the level meter
mounted on the tank of the nanofluid. To monitor the tem-
perature profile throughout the heat pipe, sixteen k-type ther-
mocouples (Omega with accuracy of ±0.1 K) were mounted
on the external surface of the heat pipe. To minimize the
Fig. 1 A schematic diagram of
the experimental setup used in
this work
potential thermal resistance, silicon paste was injected into
the thermo-wells. For each section of heat pipe, arithmetic
average of thermocouple readings is considered as the aver-
age temperature of the section. All thermocouples were con-
nected to a data acquisition unit (DATAQ DI-158 U).
Figure 2 presents the details of the heart of the test loop, the
flat heat pipe. It is fabricated from aluminium with the dimen-
sions of 9 cm × 9 cm × 11 cm (W × D × H) excluding the
length of the fins and is equipped with a screen mesh wick,
which not only facilitates the evaporation of the working fluid
but also helps the capillary action inside the heat pipe. In
addition, presence of wick structure helps the vapour phase
to be condensed conveniently due to the enhancement of the
contact area in the cold region of the heat pipe. To apply
different heat fluxes into the evaporator region of the heat
pipe, a double layer square heater (1800 W, Arak heater Co.)
connected to an autotransformer was employed. Applying dif-
ferent voltages to the heater, different heat fluxes were obtain-
ed. Adiabatic section of the heat pipe was properly isolated
using three layers of glass wool wrapped around the adiabatic
section with the approximate thickness of 3 cm. In addition,
evaporator of the heat pipe was isolated using two layers of
glass wool. Condenser section was also equipped with rectan-
gular fins mounted on the external surface of the condenser to
enhance the area exposed to the air.
Prior to the experiments, the heat pipe was filled to the
filling ratio of 50%. Then, the heat flux applied to the
evaporator and the system was left to reach steady state
conditions. After registering the thermocouple readings,
the applied heat flux was increased. Similar procedure
was repeated for different filling ratios.
 Heat Mass Transfer

Fig. 2 Details and geometrical

properties of the flat heat pipe
with rectangular fins

2.2 Nanofluid preparation and characterization
To prepare the nanofluids, multi-walled carbon nanotubes was
purchased from USNANO Research with mean diameter of 10–
20 nm and tube length of 1.5-2 μm. Deionized water (hereafter,
DI water) was selected as the base fluid. For preparing the nano-
fluids, desire weight of CNT (at wt.% of 0.1–0.3) was initially
dispersed in to the water/nonylphenol ethoxylates using motor-
ized magnetic stirrer with the rotation speed of 250 rpm for 180–
250 min. Noticeably, surfactant can change the thermo-physical
properties of nanofluid; therefore, it was added to DIW at only
0.1% of the general volume of the nanofluid.
Transmission electron microscopic image was taken from
the sample to ensure about the size, morphology and quality of
dispersion (see Fig. 3a). As can be seen, neither agglomeration
nor clustering can be seen for the nano-fluids. In addition, x
ray diffraction test was employed to ensure about the purity of
the nanotubes (see Fig. 3b). As can be seen, a single structure

Fig. 3 Characterization of the

CNT/water nanofluids: (a)
Transmission Electron
Microscopic image of CNT/water
nanofluid, (b) Results of X ray
diffraction test, (c) influence of
pH on stability of nanofluid
(wt.% = 0.2), (d) influence of
sonication on stability and dis-
persion of nanofluid (wt.% = 0.2)
Heat Mass Transfer

of multi-walled carbon nanotube is seen. No impurity was
found inside the structure of carbon nanotube.
For enhancing the stability of nanofluid, its pH was set using
buffer solution of NaOH and HCl (0.1 millimolar). By setting
the pH, zeta potential will be kept at range of −30 mV to
−45 mV in which longer stability can be seen for the nano-
fluids (see Fig. 3c). As can be seen, for some pH values, ag-
glomeration can be seen inside the bulk of nanofluid, which is
due to the attractive forces between the nanotubes. PH changes
the zeta potential, which is a criterion for the balance of attrac-
tive and repulsive forces in a colloid fluid. The best pH values
and the corresponding zeta potential have been given in Table 1.
Again, nanofluid was sonicated using ultrasonic 40 kHz/300 W
for 5–20 min to prevent any potential aggregation and possible
clustering (see Fig. 3d). More information regarding the detailed
stabilizing process is given in Table 1.
2.3 Data reduction, error and heat loss analysis
To assess the thermal performance of a heat pipe, its thermal
resistance (R) is measured, which is defined as the ratio of the
temperature gradient between evaporator and adiabatic sec-
tions to the overall applied heat of evaporator section. Thus:
T e −T c
R¼
Q mate the possible quantity of heat loss. Note that, the uncer-
where, Te and Tc are the arithmetic averages of temperatures of
the evaporator and the condenser sections, respectively. The
heating power input Q is calculated by Eq. (2) as follows:
For better understanding of the role of carbon nanotubes on
the enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient, a new param-
eter is defined as Heat Transfer Enhancement (HTE) ratio as
follows:
he;nf
HTE ¼ ð5Þ
he;bf
Table 2 presents the instruments used for measurement of
parameters and their uncertainties.
Table 2 presents the uncertainty of the instruments used in
this work. The uncertainties of the parameters such as temper-
ature (for condenser and evaporator sections), V, and I are
compositions of the system uncertainty es from the accuracy
of measurement devices such as thermocouple, multi-meter
and the random uncertainty er from the repeatability calcula-
tions [31, 32] of data as follows:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
e ¼ e s 2 þ er 2 ð6Þ
Noticeably, to calculate the uncertainty, Kline-McKlintock
[77] equation was used. The uncertainties of the indirect mea-
surement parameters such as Te, Tc, Q and R can be calculated
using Kline-McKlintock correlation and Eq. s (1 and 2) and
errors reported in Table 2. In addition, an energy balance was
carried out between the heat applied to the evaporator section
ð1Þ and heat transferred to the environment in condenser to esti-
tainty induced by the heat loss (about 8.1%) was also taken
into account in the exact uncertainty of Q and R.

Q ¼ VI ð2Þ
3 Results and discussions
V, is heater voltage and I, is current. The heat transfer coeffi-
cient at the evaporator section can be obtained as follows: 3.1 Temperature profile
qe
he ¼ ð3Þ
ΔT e Figure 4 presents the dependence of temperature profile of flat
heat pipe working with DI water on length of heat pipe for
where, different heat loads applied to the evaporator section. Clearly,
Q with an increase in the heat load applied to the evaporator, rate
qe ¼ ð4Þ of heat transfer increases led to the more evaporation of work-
L2 :
ing fluid. Therefore, temperature increases at all sections of
In Eq. (4), L is the edge of the heater, which is equivalent to the heat pipe. As it is expected, for each heat load, temperature
the length of the evaporator section. decreases from evaporator to condenser section, which is

Table 1 Results of stability test

for CNT/water nanofluids Nanofluid wt.% Stirring(min) Sonication (min) pH setting Zeta potential Stability
at pH set *

CNT/water 0.1 180 5 8.2 −30 about 15 days

0.2 210 10 8.5 −45 about 17 days
0.3 250 15–20 8.9 −35 about 30 days

*zeta potential was measured using Malvern zeta analyser


Table 2 Uncertainty of
measurement instruments Parameter
Voltage, [V]
Current, [A]
Thermocouple, [K]
Flow meter. [l/min]
he, [W/m2. K]
Q, [W]
2
q^, [W/m ]
largely due to the heat transfer of condenser to the environ-
ment and a potential heat loss from heat pipe sections to the
environment. The temperature changes for each heat load
along the heat pipe follows the same trend: (1) a relatively
constant temperature in the evaporator section representing a
large thermal conductivity in this section. (2) A sudden tem-
perature change to adiabatic section due to the heat absorption
for phase change phenomenon in the base fluid and evapora-
tion heat transfer resistance. (3) A relatively constant temper-
ature in the adiabatic section showing vapour/liquid equilibri-
um. (4) A relatively small temperature decrease from the adi-
abatic section to the condenser section due to the condensation
heat transfer resistance. (5) a relatively constant temperature in
the condenser section showing a relatively large thermal con-
ductivity of the material in this section.
According to Fig. 2, the flat heat pipe has three sections
namely evaporator section (4 cm), adiabatic section (3 cm)
and condenser section (4 cm). Heat is applied to the evapora-
tor section and results in the evaporation of the working fluid.
The vapour is passed through the adiabatic section and even-
tually is condensed at condenser section.
Figure 5 presents the dependence of temperature profile of
flat heat pipe on length of heat pipe for different concentra-
tions of CNT/water nanofluids in comparison with DI water at
Fig. 4 Dependence of temperature profile on length of flat heat pipe
working with DI water for different heat loads
Heat Mass Transfer
Instrument Uncertainty
Fluke 233 Remote Display Multi-meter ±0.01
Fluke 233 Remote Display Multi-meter ±0.02
K-type Omega Co. ±0.02
Flownetix ±0.1
Heat transfer coefficient 10.3%
Heat provided by heater 6.4%
Heat flux 5.2%
different heat fluxes. As can be seen, influence of heat flux on
the temperature profile is similar to that reported for DI water.
An increase in the heat flux (for example from 90 to 190 kw/
m2) results in uniform intensification of the temperature pro-
file at all regions of the heat pipe. For example, average tem-
perature for evaporator section is 65 °C at the heat flux of
90 kW/m2, while it is 93 °C at 190 kW/m2. Regardless of
the heat flux and the nanofluid concentration, the temperature
at the condenser end of the heat pipe is constant ~ 20 °C.
Importantly, an increase in the concentration of nanofluid
results in a decrease in the average temperature in the evapora-
tor section of the heat pipe. This decrease in the evaporator
section is more pronounced at small heat fluxes such as
10 kW/m2. Overall heat transfer resistance of the heat pipe,
calculated via eq. (1), is a function of average condenser and
average evaporator temperatures and decreases with increasing
nanofluid concentration. Consequently, the overall heat transfer
coefficient increases with nanofluid concentration. With an in-
crease in the concentration of nanofluids, the heat transfer at the
evaporator section of the heat pipe increases. This enhancement
results in smaller temperature change from the evaporator sec-
tion to the adiabatic section. Consequently, for the higher con-
centrations, adiabatic section temperature is higher. Presence of
nanofluid does not influence directly on the heat transfer mech-
anism in the condenser section of the heat pipe; nanoparticles
do not evaporate and they remain in the evaporator section.
However, since at high temperature adiabatic section tempera-
ture is higher, the temperature change from the adiabatic section
to the condenser section is higher, representing a larger heat
transfer resistance in condenser.
The main reason for decreases in temperature of evaporator
section is due to the enhancement in the conduction mecha-
nism of working fluid. In fact, presence of CNTs inside the
base fluid results in the enhancement of conduction heat trans-
fer particularly close to the evaporator wall. Therefore, heat
transfer is augmented and temperature of evaporator de-
creases. For the test HP, the higher the mass concentration of
nanofluid is, the higher heat transfer coefficient and lower
thermal resistance can be seen within the evaporator.
However, as CNTs do not migrate to the condenser, no signif-
icant change in mechanism of heat transfer and temperature
profile of HP is seen.
Heat Mass Transfer

Fig. 5 Dependence of temperature profile of flat heat pipe on length of heat pipe for different mass concentrations of CNT nanofluid: (a) Heat flux:
10 kW/m2, (b) Heat flux: 90 kW/m2, (c) Heat flux: 150 kW/m2, (d) Heat flux: 190 kW/m2

3.2 Heat transfer coefficient of evaporator Normally, for a gravity-assisted or screen mesh flat HP, the
flow regime is laminar and therefore, lower heat transfer co-
Figure 6 presents the dependence of heat transfer coefficient of efficient is seen when it is compared to closed loop heat pipes
evaporator on the applied heat flux for different concentrations
of nanofluids. As can be seen, with an increase in applied heat
flux, the heat transfer coefficient in evaporator increases. This
trend is not linear and there are some fluctuations, which is
largely due to the heat loss and errors in thermocouples. As
shown in Fig. 6, the heat transfer coefficient increases from
932 W/m2. K at the heat flux of 10 kW/m2 to nearly 3000 W/
m2. K. This broad change in the heat transfer coefficient indi-
cates that the mechanism of heat transfer changes at higher heat
fluxes. This has been argued in previous literature that nucleate
boiling heat transfer is a potential mechanism for the non-linear
and dramatic enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient in a
heat pipe. In addition, bubble formation and liquid-vapour in-
teractions can be a justification for the fluctuations observed in
the results. Interestingly, with an increase in mass concentration
of nanofluid, the heat transfer coefficient of evaporator increases
too. These results are consistent with the change in the temper-
Fig. 6 Dependence on temperature of heat transfer coefficient of
ature profiles in Fig. 5. Figure 6 represents that rate of increase at evaporator on applied heat flux to evaporator for DI water and different
high heat fluxes is significantly higher than low heat fluxes. mass concentrations of CNT nanofluid

which can work in turbulent fluid flow regime. For our HP,
The dominant heat transfer regime and mechanism is forced
convection and nucleate boiling heat transfer [78]. When the
applied heat flux is small, the dominant heat transfer mecha-
nism is forced convection, while when the HP works at high
heat flux condition; the dominant mechanism is nucleate boil-
ing. Definitely, for the nucleate boiling heat transfer regime,
the heat transfer coefficient is significantly higher than forced
convection and this is due to the presence of bubbles and
nucleation sites inside the evaporator. When it comes to the
fluid flow regime, turbulent flow can intensify the heat trans-
fer coefficient particularly when the HP works in nucleate
boiling heat transfer regime [79]. Therefore, if HP can work
in turbulent nucleate heat transfer regime, it can be used for
very high heat flux conditions [80]. However, for the present
research, the HP works only in laminar and forced/nucleate
boiling heat transfer regime and if velocity of fluid increases to
turbulent regime, the higher heat transfer coefficient can be
obtained. The explanations were added to the paper.
3.3 Total thermal resistance
Figure 7 presents the dependence of thermal resistance of flat
heat pipe on heat load for different mass concentrations of
CNT/water nanofluid in comparison with the base fluid. As
can be seen, with an increase in heat load, the thermal resis-
tance of the heat pipe decreases and this trend can be seen for
all mass concentrations of nanofluids. This observation is con-
sistent with results and discussions presented in Fig. 5 and in
the literature [79, 81, 82]. Figure 7 shows that at high heat
loads, dependence of thermal resistance to the heat load de-
creases. For example, at heat loads higher than 300 W, thermal
resistance is decreases by 2.3%. Overall, the asymptotic be-
haviour is seen for the thermal resistance of flat heat pipe.
Fig. 7 Dependence of thermal resistance of flat heat pipe on heat load for
different mass concentrations of CNT nanofluid
Heat Mass Transfer
Interestingly, with an increase in mass concentration of
nanofluid, the overall heat pipe thermal resistance decreases
as well. This is largely due to the effective thermal conductiv-
ity of nanofluids in the evaporator section [34]. Moreover,
Brownian motion of nanotubes inside the evaporator and on
the wick structure may intensify the rate of heat transfer,
resulting in decrease of thermal resistance [83]. Likewise, de-
position of carbon nanotube on the wick structure is another
reason for the reduction of thermal resistance, which will be
discussed later.
3.4 Influence of filling ratio
Figure 8 presents the dependence of Heat Transfer
Enhancement (HTE) ratio on the applied heat flux for different
filling ratios of working fluid and for two different concentra-
tions of nanofluid. As can be seen, at filling ratios of 0.6–0.8, the
HTE increases and this trend can be seen for all mass concen-
trations of nanofluid. This is because an increase in the quantity
of working fluid results in the improvement in heat capacity
inside the flat heat pipe. At higher filling ratios, due to the
limitation of space and decrease in vapour formation, the heat
transfer coefficient decreases. Precisely, there is a trade-off trend
between the amount of working fluid inside the flat heat pipe
and the space required for the evaporation of base fluid and
migration of vapour from evaporator to condenser. The higher
the volume of working fluid is, the lower space remains for the
vapour formation and the vapour migration.
3.5 Mechanism of heat transfer enhancement
To investigate the mechanism of enhancement of heat transfer
coefficient in a flat heat pipe, a visualization study was con-
ducted on the wick structure of heat pipe. Due to the presence
of nanoparticles inside the HP, sedimentation is one major that
can be seen inside the HP structure.
In order to measure the sedimentation of nanoparticles, two
different approaches were employed. In the first approach, the
sedimentation of nanoparticles inside the container (outside
the HP) was measured using time-settlement experiments.
To perform this, nanofluids were prepared at desirable con-
centration of nanoparticles and nanofluids were stored in a
stagnant glass-made container to measure the thickness of
sedimentation before running the experiments. This is not on-
ly an index for the stability of nanofluid but also gives some
information about the potential sedimentation inside the HP.
In another approach, a Surface Roughness Tester
profilometer SRG-4000 was used to measure the roughness
and thickness of fouling, however, results was just used to
prove the results obtained with scanning electron microscope
(SEM). In the third approach, scanning electron microscopic
image was used to analyse the sedimentation of nanoparticles.
The main parameter to assess the sedimentation was fouling
Heat Mass Transfer
Fig. 8 Dependence of heat transfer coefficient enhancement ratio on heat flux for different filling ratios
resistance. Fig. 9 presents the scanning electron microscopic
images taken from the wick structure exactly before and after
running experiments for 1000 min of operation at the heat flux
of 120 kW/m2 with CNT/water nanofluid at wt.% = 0.3. As
can be seen, after the experiments (Fig. 9b), a deposition layer
is formed on the screen mesh wick, which increased the thick-
ness of mesh screen (from 38 μm to 55 μm) in comparison
with the one before running the experiment (Fig. 9a). The
deposited layer is a porous medium, which is shown in Fig.
9c. The porous layer absorbs the liquid base fluid and inten-
sifies the capillary action inside the wick. This will result in
the enhancement of capillary wick action towards a better heat
transfer [84]. In addition, as this layer is created from the
deposition of carbon nanotubes, it is conductive and further
decreases the thermal resistance. The deposited layer not only
has a lower thermal resistance but also changes the surface
tension and contact angle of the wick. This has already been
investigated and published in the literature [18, 22–25,
84–91]. Therefore, further investigation on the model and de-
tails of physical mechanism of enhancement of capillary
forces is beyond the scope of this investigation.
Fig. 9 Scanning Electron
Microscopic (SEM) images from
the wick structure; (a) before
running the experiments, (b) after
running the experiments, (c) po-
rous deposition layer on the
screen mesh
Likewise, for further investigation on the intensification of
capillary forces via screen mesh structure in the HP, a droplet
of base fluid is placed on the screen mesh structure before and
after the formation of deposition. Figure 10 presents the visu-
alized contact angle of a droplet of water on the screen mesh. It
is clearly seen that the screen mesh with deposited layer is
more water-wet. Therefore, more water is absorbed by the
layer and more liquid remains in the porous layer. This effect
increases the thermal conductivity of the deposited layer (in-
stead of presence of vapour) resulting in a better heat transfer
rate from the wick structure.
Overall, presence of carbon nanotube enhances the thermal
conductivity of the base fluid, intensifies the capillary action of
wick and decreases the thermal resistance of the heat pipe [26,
86, 92]. Moreover, Brownian motion in the evaporator section
results in better thermal performance. The above-analysed
heat pipe can be utilized for high heat flux chipsets providing
that it be charged with CNT/ water nanofluid at desired filling
ratio. In addition, it is recommended to study the transient
behaviour of the heat pipe over the extended period due to
the fouling phenomenon, which is currently undergone.

Fig. 10 Contact angle of CNT/
water nanofluid droplet on the
wick structure: (a) before running
the experiments, (b) after
1000 min of operation.
(T = 25 °C, wt.% = 0.3)
In fact, in nucleate boiling heat transfer and for the HP, it
has been found that fouling can enhance the heat transfer
coefficient. The reason for the enhancement of heat transfer
is due to the fouling of nanoparticles on the internal structure
of heat pipe. Following phenomena are attributed to the main
reasons for heat transfer enhancement:
& Presence of CNTs fouling on the external surface of the
screen mesh create a porous medium with the capability to
enhance the capillary forces. IT means that this layer will
keep more liquid in it and offers higher heat transfer area
in comparison with a screen mesh without porous layer.
& Another reason is due to the fouling, more irregularities and
micro-cavities are formed on the screen mesh structure and
at higher heat fluxes e.g. 100 kW/m2, more nucleation sites
are formed. These nucleation sites intensify the bubble for-
mation inside the evaporator, as a result, it increases the
nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism, and provide
higher boiling heat transfer coefficient [93–95].
In terms of operating time, results of experiments were ana-
lyzed after 1000 min of continuous operation of heat pipe. This
was done according to the literature and the results had enough
repeatability and reproducibility over the 1000 min of continu-
ous operation. For longer operation, more experiments are re-
quired, which is currently under investigation. Based on the
previous publications [18, 88, 96–101], it is expected that con-
centration of nanofluid, type of base fluid, heat flux applied to
the evaporator and size of CNTs are potential parameters, which
can influence on the operating time of the heat pipe. Further
investigation on these parameters are recommended.
4 Conclusions
Experimental study on the thermal performance of an alumin-
ium made flat heat pipe working with CNT/water nanofluid
was performed and following conclusions were drawn:
(1) CNT/water nanofluid changes the heat transfer coeffi-
cients and temperature profile of heat pipe at evaporator,
Heat Mass Transfer
adiabatic and condenser sections. With an increase in
mass concentration of carbon nanotubes, the temperature
change is more pronounced.
(2) Presence of carbon nanotube increased the heat transfer
coefficient in evaporator section. With an increase in
mass concentration of nanofluid, a higher value of heat
transfer coefficient was reported.
(3) An increase in the heat load (heat flux) resulted in im-
provement of heat transfer coefficient and thermal perfor-
mance of heat pipe, which was possibly due to the evapo-
ration of base fluid and the change in mechanism of heat
transfer from convection to nucleate boiling regime.
(4) Deposition of carbon nano tube on the wick structure
increased the capillary action and led to the better heat
transfer. In addition, thermal resistance of heat pipe was
decreased. It was attributed to the deposited layer of car-
bon nanotube which was a conductive layer filled with
the liquid base fluid rather than vapour.
(5) Deposition of carbon nanotubes on the wick reduced the
water contact angle from 81.9° to 49°.This effect led to a
better contact between base fluid droplets and increased
the capillary forces by absorbing more liquid into the
porous layer.
(6) Filling ratio was found to be critical for the performance
of heat pipe. The optimum filling ratio was 0.8 at which
the maximum performance was seen for the test flat heat
pipe. At higher filling ratios than 0.8, the performance of
heat pipe decreased.
For the future work, study on the nucleation site is highly
recommended as it can change the dominant mechanism
inside the heat exchanger. Parallel to that, a visualization
study can be studied on the flat heat pipe working in nucle-
ate boiling regime. Likewise, influence of size of CNTs,
pressure inside the flat heat pipe, size of mesh structure,
and type of base fluid and shape of condenser can be studied
for the flat HP.
Acknowledgements Authors of this work tend to dedicate this article
to imam Mahdi and appreciate Semnan University for their financial
supports.
Heat Mass Transfer
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author
states that there is no conflict of interest for this paper.
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