Thermally-induced oscillatory flowand heat transfer in an oscillating heat pipe

Thermally-induced oscillatory flow and heat transfer in a U-shaped minichannel - a building block of an Oscillating Heat Pipe (OHP) - is modeled by analyzing evaporation and condensation in the heating and cooling sections, effect of axial variation of surface temperature on sensible heat transfer between the liquid slug and the minichannel wall, as well as initial temperature and pressure loss at the bend on the heat transfer performance. The oscillatory flow of the liquid slug is driven by variations of pressures of the vapor plug due to evaporation and condensation. The sensible heat transfer coefficient between the liquid slug and the minichannel wall is obtained by analytical solution for a laminar liquid flow and by empirical correlations for a turbulent liquid flow.