Plenary Speech:

From Single Heat Pipe to Heat Pipe Heat Exchangers

Professor Gheorghe Bacanu
Co-Author: Claudia Sirbu
University Transilvania of Brasov
29 Eroilor Boulevard, 500036, Brasov
ROMANIA

Abstract: The paper presents an algorithm to determine the performance of the heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE) starting from the behaviour of different single heat pipes. The heat pipe (or thermosyphon), as a heat transfer device with an extremely high effective thermal conductivity has a self performance depending on the different operating conditions. Inside the HPHE the single heat pipe represents an elementary heat exchanger and the total number of heat pipes (which constitute the exchanger) is a combination of the elementary exchangers in a parallel, a series or a mixed arrangement.
The performance (behaviour) of each heat pipe depend, essentially, on the position inside the exchanger, taking in account that the temperatures of both fluids are variable in the longer of the exchanger. Finally, the overall performance of the exchanger is a sum of the performance of the total number of heat pipes.
The algorithm to predict the performance oh HPHE is based on the knowledge of the behaviour of HP in very different conditions (behaviour obtained by laboratory tests) and on the use of a specific software, which is presented more detailed in the paper.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Engineer Licence degree obtained in 1974, at Faculty of Energetics, University “Politehnica" of Bucharest, Master degree in “Gestion de PME-PMI” (SMEs management) obtained in 2001 at Faculte d'Administration et Echange, Universitate Paris XII, Val de Marne, France. From 1980 Professor (Department of Termotehnics and Fluids Mechanics), University Transilvania of Brasov (teaching Thermodynamics, Renewable Sources of Energy, Energy Management, Heat and Mass Transfer Processes), and from 2004 Vice-Rector charged with the research and doctoral study.
PhD obtained in 1991 with the thesis "Optimization of Heat Pipe Heat Exchangers", (in Romanian), Participations at International Heat Pipe Conferences: Grenoble (France), Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Albuquerque (U.S.A).