Verfahren zum Transport von Fluessigkeiten, Thermo-Kapillar-Pumpe sowie deren Verwendung

DE 102008054224 A1 UPAB: 20100524 NOVELTY - The method involves separating liquid phase from a mixture of liquid phase (2) and gaseous phase in a separator (4), and supplying the liquid phase to a reservoir (12). The liquid phase is transferred to an evaporation zone (7) through a capillary (6), where the transport of the liquid phase takes place by capillary effect. Steam formed in the evaporation zone is supplied to a section to partially condensate the steam. The mixture of the liquid and the partially condensate steam is supplied to the separator, and the liquid phase is supplied to the reservoir. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for a micro-fluidic cooling circuit with a thermocapillary pump comprising a separator for separating a liquid phase from a mixture of the liquid phase and a gaseous phase. USE - Method for transporting liquid in a micro-fluidic circulatory system for evaporation of liquid phase and/or for humidification of a gas in micro-system and micro-process engineering applications i.e. portable fuel cell system (all claimed). ADVANTAGE - The method allows for self-controlling of the micro-fluidic circulatory system without using electric supply, so that controlled heating and/or cooling circuit is enabled, thus eliminating the need for measurement of specific parameters, hence enabling direct adjustment of the amount of production of steam based on the heat supplied to the evaporator