ABSTRACT
It is established that sintered copper water heat pipes are well suited for removing large amounts of heat from electronic devices and assemblies. However, their acceptance for space flight applications depends on their ability to survive thousands of freeze-thaw cycles without experiencing lowered performance. Experimental data was explored as well as analytical solutions involving the sintered bead geometry of the wick and the percent of saturation loading of the working fluid. Also explored were the freezing and thawing temperature ramp rates so as not to induce extraneous test-related stress on the wick and shell.
