Experimental Study on Thermal Enhancement of a Pump-Assisted Loop Heat Pipe Based on Superhydrophilic Multiscale Composite

  • ZHANG Naijia ,
  • ZHOU Jingzhi ,
  • HUAI Xiulan ,
  • ZHOU Feng ,
  • CHEN Qihan ,
  • JIANG Yawen
Expand
  • 1. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    2. School of Engineering Sciences, University Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
    3. Nanjing Institute of Future Energy System, Nanjing 211135, China
    4. School of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China

Online published: 2025-09-01

Supported by

This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project (Grant No. 52006218).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025

Abstract

In response to the demand for cooling solutions in data centers with the burgeoning growth of the information era, it is imperative to explore a high-performance and energy-saving thermal management system. In this paper, a copper-water pump-assisted loop heat pipe based on a top-down superhydrophilic multiscale composite wick-channel structure is investigated to optimize the stability and operation range in the loop heat pipe (LHP). Aided by theoretical pressure analysis, it has been demonstrated that this composite structure enhances the durability and maintenance of the large capillary pressure head. The comparison has analyzed the effects of heat leakage on the compensation chamber and the phase change in channels by establishing system thermal resistance networks. The results show that the pump-assisted loop heat pipe (P-A LHP) exhibits lower baseplate temperature fluctuation within 0.5°C and a larger operation range of more than 400 W below the baseplate temperature of 85°C. In addition, the P-A LHP elevates heat transfer capacity to 430 W by increasing the mass flow rate, and the minimum thermal resistance of 0.130°C/W is achieved compared with the LHP minimum thermal resistance of 0.217°C/W. Finally, the maximum P-A LHP coefficient of performance is 22.7 under the small mass flow rate, which is larger than most registered active cooling systems.

Cite this article

ZHANG Naijia , ZHOU Jingzhi , HUAI Xiulan , ZHOU Feng , CHEN Qihan , JIANG Yawen . Experimental Study on Thermal Enhancement of a Pump-Assisted Loop Heat Pipe Based on Superhydrophilic Multiscale Composite[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2025 , 34(5) : 1937 -1952 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-025-2130-5

References

[1] Gong X.M., Zhang Z.B., Gan S.X., et al., A review on evaluation metrics of thermal performance in data centers. Building and Environment, 2020, 177: 106907.
[2] Uddin M., Darabidarabkhani Y., Shah A., et al., Evaluating power efficient algorithms for efficiency and carbon emissions in cloud data centers: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015, 51: 1553–1563.
[3] Two phase liquid immersion cooling. https://www.gigabyte.com/Solutions/Cooling /immersion-cooling, 2021 (accessed on 31 July 2021).
[4] Asgari S., MirhoseiniNejad S., Moazamigoodarzi H., et al., A gray-box model for real-time transient temperature predictions in data centers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2021, 185: 116319.
[5] Zhang H.N., Shao S.Q., Xu H.B., et al., Free cooling of data centers: A review. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014, 35: 171–182.
[6] Nadjahi C., Louahlia H., Lemasson S., et al., A review of thermal management and innovative cooling strategies for data center. Sustainable Computing-Informatics & Systems, 2018, 19: 14–28.
[7] Gupta R., Asgari S., Moazamigoodarzi H., et al., Cooling architecture selection for air-cooled data centers by minimizing exergy destruction. Energy, 2020, 201: 117625.
[8] Li F.N., Cao H.S., Current status and prospects of two-phase cooling for data centers. Journal of Refrigeration, 2022, 43(3): 28–36.
[9] Sarkar S., Gupta R., Roy T., et al., Review of jet impingement cooling of electronic devices: Emerging role of surface engineering. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2023, 206: 123888.
[10] Zimmermann S., Meijer I., Tiwari M.K., et al., Aquasar: A hot water cooled data center with direct energy reuse. Energy, 2012, 43(1): 237–245.
[11] Haywood A.M., Sherbeck J., Phelan P., et al., The relationship among CPU utilization, temperature, and thermal power for waste heat utilization. Energy Conversion and Management, 2015, 95: 297–303.
[12] Maidanik Y.F., Vershinin S.V., Chernysheva M.A., Development and tests of miniature loop heat pipe with a flat evaporator. SAE Transactions, 2000, 109: 652–656.
[13] Maidanik Y.F., Vershinin S.V., Pastukhov V.G., et al., Loop heat pipes for cooling systems of servers. IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies, 2010, 33(2): 416–423.
[14] Ambirajan A., Adoni A.A., Vaidya J.S., et al., Loop heat pipes: A review of fundamentals, operation, and design. Heat Transfer Engineering, 2012, 33: 387–405.
[15] Pawar S., Patel D.K., The impingement heat transfer data of inclined jet in cooling applications: A review. Journal of Thermal Science, 2020, 29: 1–12.
[16] Xu X.J., Wang Y., Bang Y.L., et al., Recent advances in closed loop spray cooling and its application in airborne systems. Journal of Thermal Science, 2021, 30: 32–50.
[17] Singh R., Akbarzadeh A., Mochizuki M., Effect of wick characteristics on the thermal performance of the miniature loop heat pipe. Journal of Heat Transfer, 2009, 131(8): 082601.
[18] Chernysheva M.A., Vershinin S.V., Maydanik Y.F., Development and investigation of a loop heat pipe at a high concentration of heat load. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2022, 197: 123316.
[19] Zhou G.H., Li J., Lv L.C., An ultra-thin miniature loop heat pipe cooler for mobile electronics. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2016, 109: 514–523.
[20] Zhang X.F., Wang S.F., Experimental investigation of heat transfer performance of a miniature loop heat pipe with flat evaporator. International Conference on Green Building, Materials and Civil Engineering, Shangri-La, China, 2011, 71–78: 3806–3809. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.71-78.3806.
[21] Bernagozzi M., Georgoulas A., Miché N., et al., Novel battery thermal management system for electric vehicles with a loop heat pipe and graphite sheet inserts. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2021, 194: 117061.
[22] Madhuri M., Yadav N.P., Parametric investigation of closed loop pulsating heat pipe with cerium oxide nanofluid. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 2022, 15(6): 1717–1727.
[23] Maydanik Y., Chernysheva M., Vershinin S., High-capacity loop heat pipe with flat evaporator for efficient cooling systems. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 2020, 34(3): 465–475.
[24] Wang J., Li Y.Z., Wang J., Transient performance and intelligent combination control of a novel spray cooling loop system. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 2013, 26(5): 1173–1181.
[25] Wang Y.W., Cen J.W., Jiang F.M., et al., An experimental study on the performance of a stainless steel-water loop heat pipe under natural cooling condition. Journal of Thermal Science, 2014, 23: 91–95.
[26] Mo B., Ohadi M.M., Dessiatoun S.V., et al., Capillary pumped-loop thermal performance improvement with electrohydrodynamic technique. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 2000, 14(1): 103–108.
[27] Lu D.P., Xie R.J., Wen J.J., Experimental study on a multi-evaporator loop heat pipe with a dual-layer structure condenser. Journal of Thermal Science, 2023, 32: 1466–1476.
[28] Lee M., Park C., Mechanical-capillary-driven two-phase loop: Numerical modeling and experimental validation. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2018, 125: 972–982.
[29] Jiang C., Liu W., Liu Z.C., et al., Startup characteristics of pump-assisted capillary phase change loop. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017, 126: 1115–1125.
[30] Jiang C., Liu Z.C., Wang D.D., et al., Effect of liquid charging process on the operational characteristics of pump-assisted capillary phase change loop. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2015, 91: 953–962.
[31] Zhang H., Jiang C., Zhang Z.K., et al., A study on thermal performance of a pump-assisted loop heat pipe with ammonia as working fluid. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2020, 175: 115342.
[32] Yang X.P., Liu J., Wang G.X., et al., Experimental study of mechanical-capillary driven phase-change loop for heat dissipation of electronic devices and batteries. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2022, 210: 118350.
[33] Setyawan I., Putra N., Hakim II., Experimental investigation of the operating characteristics of a hybrid loop heat pipe using pump assistance. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2018, 130: 10–16.
[34] Chi S.W., Heat pipe theory and practice: A sourcebook, first ed., McGraw-hill, New York, 1976.
[35] Peterson G.P., An introduction to heat pipes: modeling, testing, and applications, first ed., John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 1994.
[36] Li J., Peterson G.P., Geometric optimization of a micro heat sink with liquid flow. IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies, 2006, 29: 145–154.
[37] Gao L.J., Xu H.J., Zhang X., et al., Numerical investigation on thermal performance of thermoelectric- cooler integrated cold plate of thermal control liquid loop in spacecraft. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 2023, 142: 106620.
[38] Huang Z.F., Li T.X., Experimental investigation of gravity effect on a vapor compression heat pump system. Energies, 2023, 16(11): 4412.
Outlines

/