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Description
For the cooling of new superconducting components, cryocoolers are increasingly favored over traditional immersion bath cooling. The efficient thermal connection between superconducting elements, like coils, and cryocoolers is vital for the system performance. Pulsating Heat Pipes (PHPs) utilize two-phase flow to transfer heat from a warmer evaporator section to a colder condenser part using both latent (phase change) and sensible (circulation and oscillation) heat transfer mechanisms. Their main advantage compared to conventional links made of solid material such as copper are their high thermal performance and low weight. While water-based PHPs are well-established, the potential of cryogenic PHPs, particularly for cooling superconducting components, remains underexplored. Addressing this, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), in collaboration with VDL Enabling Technologies Group (VDL ETG), has initiated a project to develop and assess cryogenic PHPs tailored for superconducting applications.
This paper introduces a new experimental setup for cryogenic PHP characterization. It outlines the design, instrumentation, and operational procedures of a vertically oriented 20-tube neon PHP. The PHP design features an adiabatic section measuring 19.5 cm, with 316 L steel tubes of 1 mm inner and 3 mm outer diameters. The results and benchmarking of the experiments conducted with this PHP are shown. Experimental conditions varied across condenser temperatures (27 and 30 K) and filling ratios (15 to 90%), with evaporator heat loads incrementally increased between 0 and 20 W. The low thermal resistance observed offers encouraging evidence for the potential of this system in cooling high-temperature superconducting coils.
| Submitters Country | Switzerland |
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