Heat Pipe Demonstrator

Heat pipe is a latest development in the field of Heat Transfer and finds its application from spacecraft to Kitchen. It involves the transfer of heat by boiling and condensation of a fluid and hence transfer of heat takes place under nearly isothermal condtions.
The heat pipe demonstrator has been designed and developed to clearly reveal this space age superconducting device to engineering students. It consists of 3 identical cylindrical conductors in respect of geometry. One end of these is heated electrically while there are small capacity tanks acting as heat sinks at the other end. The unit consists of a heat pipe, a copper pipe and a stainless steel pipe. Thermocouples are embeded along the lengths to measure the temperature distribution and the heat transfer rate is noted in terms of the tempearature rise in the heat sink tanks. .
The performance of the heat pipe as a cuper conducting device could be studied well in terms of the temperature distribution along the length at a given instant and could be compared with other two members. Nearly isothermal temperature distribution and fast rise of temperature in heat sink tanks reveals the heat pipe superiotly over the conventional conductors.