Study on thermal performance of micro-channel separate heat pipe for telecommunication stations: Experiment and simulation

• A steady-state mathematical model for MCSHP was developed.
• The average relative error between model and experiment results was under 10%.
• Effects of geometrical design on the thermal performance are investigated.
• Effects of environment condition on the thermal performance are investigated.

A micro-channel separate heat pipe (MCSHP) as a cooling device for telecommunication stations (TSs) was experimentally investigated in this work. A steady-state mathematical model was built and validated with experimental data. The cooling capacity, inlet and outlet of refrigerant temperatures and refrigerant pressure of evaporator section were measured in an enthalpy difference laboratory (EDL). The average relative errors between simulation and experiment were less than 10%. The effects of geometrical design and environment conditions on thermal performance were analyzed using the validated model. As a result of the simulations, the refrigerant side pressure drop decreased by 96.61% at the flat tube height 3.0 mm compared to 1.4 mm. And the air side pressure drop decreased by 94.49%, when fin height ranged from 4 mm to 20 mm. The cooling capacity increased by 50.65% at the fin pitch 3.0 mm compared to 1.0 mm. These factors were of practical engineering importance in optimum design of MCSHP.