COMPARISON OF HEAT TRANSFER EFFICIENCY BETWEEN HEAT PIPE AND TUBE BUNDLES HEAT EXCHANGER

A comparison of heat transfer efficiency between the heat pipe and tube bundles heat exchanger is made based on heat transfer principle and the analysis of thermal characteristics. This paper argues that although heat pipe has the fea-ture of high axial thermal conductivity, to those cases where this special function of heat transfer is unnecessary, heat pipe exchanger is not a high efficient heat exchanger when it is just used as a conventional heat exchanger in the industrial fields. In turn, there are some deficiencies for heat pipe exchanger, such as com-plicated manufacturing process, critical requirements for manufacturing materi-als, etc. which leads to a higher cost in comparison to a tubular heat exchanger. Nonetheless, due to its diverse structural features and extraordinary properties, heat pipe exchanger still has wide applications on special occasions. Key words: heat transfer, heat pipe, tubular exchange