JPS59107189A - Regenerative heat pipe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a heat medium of low temperature to be continuously heated up through a heat stored as a latent heat even if the supply of heat is interrupted for thereby eliminating the need of regenerator to realize a compact heating system. CONSTITUTION:Upon the supply of heat to a heat pipe 1 being interrupted, a latent heat storing material 3 cools down to its solidifying point and immediately begins to solidify, emitting a latent heat. Therefore, because a working fluid is evaporated through a heat emitted from the latent heat storing material 3 and carries its heat to a low temperature portion, the heat pipe 1 can still heat up a heat medium contacting with the opposite end thereof through a heat stored in the latent heat storing material 3 despite the absence of supply heat for a period until the latent heat storing material 3 completely solidifies and cools down. Moreover, the outer sheath 2 of heat pipe 1 itself has the latent heat storing material 3 and consequently it is possible to make the entire heating system as compact and lower a total heat resistance.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to heat pipes.

As is well-known, a heat pipe has a sealed hollow structure housing a wick such as a metal mesh, and a working fluid that is repeatedly evaporated and condensed.
The working fluid, which has received heat from the outside and evaporated, flows inside the exterior body and is radiated and condensed in the low n1l (heat radiating section), thereby transporting heat as latent heat, so it has extremely high thermal conductivity. For this reason, heat pipes have traditionally been widely used in heat exchangers, etc., but as mentioned above, conventional heat pipes transport heat only when the working fluid receives heat from the outside and evaporates. For example, if a heat pipe is used as a heat exchanger,
When the heat input to the heat pipe is cut off, evaporation of the working fluid immediately stops and heating of the low temperature fluid becomes impossible. Therefore, when it is necessary to reduce fluctuations in the heating temperature of the low-temperature fluid due to fluctuations in the temperature of the high-temperature fluid that is the heat source,
A heat storage device is provided between a high-temperature fluid and a low-temperature fluid, the heat of the high-temperature fluid is temporarily stored in the heat storage device via a heat pipe, and the heat is extracted from the heat storage device via the heat pipe to heat the low-temperature fluid. Conceivable.

In this way, even if there is no heat input from the high-temperature fluid, the low-temperature fluid can be heated using the heat stored in the heat storage device, so fluctuations in the heating temperature of the low-temperature fluid can be reduced. If a heat storage device is provided, not only will the entire device become larger, but the heat storage device will be inserted between the high temperature fluid and the low temperature fluid, so there will be no resistance between the high temperature fluid and the low temperature fluid. There is a problem that becomes large.

This invention was made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide a heat vibrator that also has a heat storage function.The invention is characterized in that the exterior body or wick has a latent heat storage material. It is in the point where it is.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. M2 are schematic diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, and the heat pipe 1 shown here has a closed hollow exterior body 2 on the inner peripheral surface of a metal tube made of copper, stainless steel, etc. The structure is such that a latent heat storage material 3 is attached thereto, and the exterior body 2
A wick 4 made of metal mesh or the like is provided inside, and an appropriate working fluid is sealed therein. Here, the latent heat storage material 3 stores heat as latent heat accompanying a phase change such as crystal transition or melting, and is made by molding a polyolefin material such as polyethylene into a rod shape and retaining the shape. ``It has a structure in which only the outer surface is crosslinked, or a structure in which metal is vapor-deposited in order to maintain the shape and increase thermal conductivity at the same time. In addition, in order to further improve the thermal conductivity of the latent heat storage material 3 itself, powder of silicon, aluminum, copper, carbon, iron, etc. is added to the latent heat storage material 3.
It may be mixed in an appropriate amount.

However, in the heat pipe 1 described above, if the protective temperature range is a temperature range that includes the melting point of the latent heat storage material 3, the latent heat storage material 3 will melt due to the heat applied to one end of the heat pipe 1,
Stores heat as latent heat of fusion.

In this way, the latent heat storage material 3 is completely melted.
As its temperature increases, the working fluid evaporates and thus the heat pipe 1 described above functions like a normal bee pipe. When the heat input to the heat pipe 1 disappears, the temperature of the latent heat storage material 3 drops to its freezing point (melting point), and at the same time it begins to solidify while releasing latent heat, so that the working fluid evaporates due to the heat released by the latent heat storage material 3. In the heat pipe 1, even if there is no heat input, until the latent heat storage material 3 is completely solidified and cooled, the heat stored in the latent heat storage material 3 will keep the temperature at a low temperature. A heat medium such as a fluid that is in contact with the other end of the heat vibe 1 can be heated. In addition, in the heat pipe 1 above,
Since the exterior body 2 itself has the latent heat storage material 3,
The overall configuration can be made compact and the total thermal resistance can be reduced.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the invention,
The heat pipe 1 shown here is made of a latent heat storage material 3 in the form of pellets. Such a latent heat storage material 3 may be made by, for example, molding high-density polyethylene into granules and crosslinking only the surface thereof, or by vapor-depositing metal on the surface. However, the same effects as the heat pipe 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be obtained.

Furthermore, when pellet-shaped, particularly spherical, latent heat storage materials 3 are arranged in close contact with each other on the inner circumferential surface of the exterior body 2 as shown in FIG. Since the latent heat storage material 3 acts as a wick, the wick becomes unnecessary, and depending on the particle size of each latent heat storage material 3, it becomes a core material when the working fluid evaporates. , it is also possible to improve the performance as a heat pipe.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention,
The heat pipe 1 shown here includes a latent heat storage material 3. is formed into a sheet shape. The latent heat storage material 3 may be configured by crosslinking only the surface of a polyolefin material stretched into a sheet shape, for example, and even if such a heat pipe 1 is used, the heat pipe shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. The same effects as 1 can be obtained.

In addition, the heat pipe 1 shown in FIG. 6 has a wick 4 made of a latent heat storage material, and the wick 4 is made of, for example, a network of linear high-density polyethylene cross-linked only on the surface. has been done. Therefore, in the heat pipe 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. 6, the wick 4 itself stores heat, and since the wick 4 is in direct contact with the working fluid, the overall configuration can be made more compact, and the heat can be dissipated more efficiently. You can put in and take out.

Furthermore, the heat pipe 1 shown in FIG. 7 has an exterior body 2 formed of a latent heat storage material 3. That is, the exterior body 2
For example, a polyolefin material such as high-density polyethylene is formed into a hollow tube shape, and its outer and inner peripheral surfaces are crosslinked and hardened, and the space between the hardened layers is made soluble.

Note that, in order to improve the heat exchange between the external heat medium and the working fluid, it is preferable to mix powder of silicon, aluminum, copper, iron, etc. into the latent heat storage material 3. However, in the heat pipe 1 shown in FIG. 7, since the latent heat storage material 3 is melted by heat applied from the outside, the exterior body 2
Heat is stored as latent heat of fusion, and therefore, when the heat input stops, the latent heat storage material 3 releases the latent heat accompanying its solidification, so the low temperature heat medium in contact with the heat pipe 1 can be heated. The heat pipe having the configuration shown in FIG. 7 can also provide the same effects as the heat pipe 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

As is clear from the above description, the heat pipe of the present invention has a structure in which the exterior body or the wick has a latent heat storage material, so even if there is no trace of heat input, the heat medium stored as latent heat continues to be a low-temperature heat medium. Therefore, according to the heat pipe of the present invention, it is not necessary to provide a heat storage device especially when it is necessary to continuously heat a low-temperature heat medium even if there are fluctuations in heat input, such as in a solar water heater. Therefore, the configuration of the entire device can be made compact.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIGS. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of 1... Heat pipe, 2... Exterior body, 3...
Latent heat storage material, 4...wick. Applicant Fujikura Electric Cable Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Takehisa Toyota (One Idiot Figure 1 Figure 3 ■ Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the heat pipe, a wick that generates capillary pressure is housed inside a sealed hollow exterior body, and a working fluid that transports heat as latent heat by evaporation and vaporization is enclosed in the exterior body. A heat vibrator having a latent heat storage material.