Mathematical modelling and parameter optimization of pulsating heat pipes

•To provide a simplified and yet accurate two-phase, mathematical model for a pulsating heat pipe system.•To provide a framework for inverse parameter estimation as an optimization problem.•To show good estimates of 5 key parameters achieved by the firefly algorithm.

Proper heat transfer management is important to key electronic components in microelectronic applications. Pulsating heat pipes (PHP) can be an efficient solution to such heat transfer problems. However, mathematical modelling of a PHP system is still very challenging, due to the complexity and multiphysics nature of the system. In this work, we present a simplified, two-phase heat transfer model, and our analysis shows that it can make good predictions about startup characteristics. Furthermore, by considering parameter estimation as a nonlinear constrained optimization problem, we have used the firefly algorithm to find parameter estimates efficiently. We have also demonstrated that it is possible to obtain good estimates of key parameters using very limited experimental data.