A new approach to thermo- uid behavior through porous layer of heat pipes

This paper developed a new mathematical model to investigate the heat transfer as well as wickʹs thickness of a heat pipe. The model was established by conservative equations of continuity, momentum, and energy in the thermal boundary layer. Using a similarity variable, the governing equations were changed to a set of ordinary dierential equations and were solved numerically by the forth-order Runge-Kutta method. The ow variables, such as velocity components, wickʹs thickness, and Nusselt number, were obtained. The results show that the Nusselt number is proportional to the square root of the Darcy-modied Rayleigh number and to the distance from the edge of the condenser surface. Furthermore, the thickness of the wick material depends on the Jakob number and is proportional to the heat transfer between the wall and liquid lm.