Heat-pipe-based tunable multimode horizontal thermal rectifier

A heat-pipe-based multimode thermal rectifier, easily scalable for advanced energy management in industrial applications (e.g., waste heat recovery, solar application and building management), is proposed horizontal transport. The rectifier composed of a copper tube loop having superhydrophilic section superhydrophobic section. rectification effect achieved by the differences sections surface evaporation/condensation wicking characteristics, when they are exposed to heating or cooling. Meanwhile, valve incorporated vapor channel control switch status hot flow. Experiments with such showed that maximum ratio 4.18 could be reached at flux 3222 W/m2, whereas higher (up 5.78) even forward reversed transfer different temperatures real applications. Besides, conductivity reach 623 W/(m⋅K) efficient harvest. In addition, ratio, as well mode, can tuned satisfy complex requirement practical