Experimental investigation on the heat transfer characteristics of rotating heat pipe paddle in a reactor

In this study, a heat pipe agitated reactor is proposed, where the heat pipe plays roles in stirring and transferring heat. This heat pipe can be used to replace the heat exchanger components and stirring devices in a conventional reactor. By experimentally investigating the heat transfer performance of this rotating heat pipe in a reactor, the effects of reaction temperature, rotation speed, cooling water flow rate and the filling ratio in power of heat transfer, total thermal resistance, and the overall heat transfer coefficient were analyzed. The results show that rotating heat pipe can effectively remove the heat of reaction, and its heat transfer power reaches 1 kW at the temperature of 85℃ and rotating speed of 200 r/min. Rotating speed has a great impact on the heat transfer performance of the rotating heat pipe. The thermal resistance of this heat pipe at still condition and temperature of 75℃ is 0.082℃/W, but it decreases to 0.048℃/W at the speed of 150 r/min, implying a considerable improvement in the heat transfer performance. Furthermore, the thermal resistance of the heat pipe is more sensitive to the changes in rotating speed when the filling amount is low, and will decrease with the increase in reaction temperature.