Investigation on the Feasibility of Oscillating-Flow Heat Pipe Applied in the Solar Collector

Oscillating-flow heat pipe (OFHP) is a new type of heat-transfer device with many novel properties, having an attractive prospect for application in solar thermal utilization. Experiments on the heat-transfer performance of the OFHP with common size and the OFHP components designed for solar collectors were carried out. The results showed that the heat-transfer performance of OFHP of common dimensions varied slightly when the filling ratio varied from 40% to 60% and confirmed that the OFHP with an appropriate filling ratio has an excellent heat-transfer performance at most of inclination angles. The experiments also confirmed the feasibility for the OFHP application in solar collectors.