Akio Idei

A Design for Loop Thermosyphon Including Effect of Non-Condensable Gas

We have developed a loop thermosyphon for cooling electronics devices. Its cooling performance changes with the ambient temperature and amount of input heating. Especially it deteriorates with non-condensable gas (NCG) increase. NCG leakage of thermosyphon cannot detect below under 10−10 Pa-m3 /s, though we have to design the thermosyphon considering these characteristics to provide guaranteed performance for 5–10 years. In this study, the effect of the amount of NCG in each component of a thermosyphon was measured while changing the amount of heater input, and the amount of NCG. As a result, we obtained some useful design information. The performance of air cooling part does not depend on the NCG amount in this case. The performance of evaporation part depends on the total pressure that includes the partial pressure of vapor and the partial pressure of NCG. The performance of condensation part is deteriorated strongly by NCG amount increase. Additionally, we expressed these performances as approximations. These expressions let us predict the total thermal resistance of this thermosyphon by the NCG amount and the input heating amount. Then, using the leakage of a thermosyphon and the amount of dissolved NCG in water, we predicted the amount of NCG that will be in the thermosyphon after 10 years. These results also let us predict the thermosyphon’s total thermal resistance after 10 years. Though there is a slight leakage on thermosyphon, using this technique, we are able to design a thermosyphon that is guaranteed the cooling performance for a long term.Copyright