Abstract
A capillary pumped loop (CPL) is a high-efficiency two-phase heat transfer device in which the phase change of a working fluid is used to transport heat from evaporator to condenser through natural circulation without any external driving forces. This study presents the possibility of the CPL apply on the solar thermal storage system. Experimental results show that the best storage efficiency is 77% in filling ratio 70%. In system tilt angle method can divided into α-angle and β-angle. In the α-angle, when the α-angle is greater the system start-up time will faster. In the efficiency, the fixed heating power 210W, with α-angle is greater of the efficiency is greater worse. the fixed heating power 150W, optimal system efficiency is α30o.the fixed heating power 210W, optimal system efficiency is α0o.the fixed heating power 270W, optimal system efficiency is α30o. By the different α-angle and different heating power, the heating power is 210w has the best efficiency in α0o. In the β-angle, system efficiency has not obvious trend, about 60%. In addition, the experiment produced different evaporation wick structure, have Wick-7pin, Wick-12pin, Wick-16pin and Wick-20pin. It was found that the efficiency of the system of Wick-12pin better than the other three structure, as well as the best start-up time.