摘要
The installation and operation of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) involves many challenges. These challenges include the high cost and high risk associated with the investment capital, potential large working-fluid leakage, corrosion of equipment, and subsiding land. A super-long heat pipe can be used for geothermal exploitation to avoid these problems. In this paper, a high aspect-ratio heat pipe (30 m long, 17 mm in inner diameter) is installed vertically. Experiments are then carried out to study its heat-transfer performance and characteristics using several filling ratios of deionized water, different heating powers, and various cooling-water flowrates. The results show that the optimal filling-ratio is about 40% of the volume of the vaporizing section of the heat pipe. Compared with a conventional short heat pipe, the extra-long heat pipe experiences significant thermal vibration. The oscillation frequency depends on the heating power and working-fluid filling ratio. With increasing cooling-water flow rate, the heat-transfer rate of the heat pipe increases before it reaches a plateau. In addition, we investigate the heat-transfer performance of the heat pipe for an extreme working-fluid filling ratio; the results indicate that the lower part of the heat pipe is filled with vapor, which reduces the heat-transfer to the top part. Based on the experimental data, guidelines for designing a heat pipe that can be really used for the exploitation of earth-deep geothermal energy are analyzed.