Influence of Inclination Angle on the Start-up Performance of a Sodium-Potassium Alloy Heat Pipe

Alkali metal heat pipes play significant role in various high-temperature engineering applications because of their excellent heat transfer capacity. Inclination angle is one of major factors which significantly affect start-up and heat transfer characteristics especially for thermosiphons. A sodium-potassium alloy (Na-K) gravity-driven heat pipe (GHP), in which the content of potassium in Na-K is wt. 55%, was fabricated to study the effect of inclination angle on start-up and heat transfer capacities of high-temperature GHPs. The Na-K GHPs was fixed by the adjusting bracket in 9 inclination angles (0°, 10°, 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70° and 80°). Outside wall temperature was measured by eleven thermocouples which calibrated by the China Institute of Metrology prior to using them in the experiments. Results show that inclination angle has a significant impact on start-up and heat transfer performances of the Na-K GHP because of the impact of gravity on the two-phase flow inside the heat pipe and effective heating area in the evaporator. Start-up and heat transfer characteristics are dramatically improved and temperature difference significantly decreases as the inclination angle increases from 0° to 50°, but slightly decreases when the inclination angle exceeds 60°.