Experimental investigation on two-phase thermosyphon loop with partially liquid-filled downcomer

Highlights: • A visual thermosyphon loop test bench is established. • Partially liquid-filled phenomenon in the downcomer is discovered. • The driving force may be smaller than the conventional prediction. • Liquid head in the downcomer is self-regulated by influencing factors. • Larger height difference does not always lead to better performance. - Abstract: Two-phase thermosyphon loops (TPTLs) are beginning to be extensively used in the field of air conditioning and heat recovery, where they have quite different flow characteristics compared with the traditional TPTLs used in cooling of electronics. However, in the existing studies, the flow features in the downcomer were ignored, and most researchers simply thought the downcomer was always full of liquid. In this study, a visual experimental setup was established, the flow features in the downcomer were observed and measured. And the influencing factors including temperature difference, liquid charge, height difference, and circulation flow resistance on the liquid head have been identified and investigated experimentally. The results show that, different from the conventional understandings, the downcomer can be partially liquid filled. At this time, the upper part of downcomer is a static saturation gas blockage, surrounded by a layer of liquid film, which does not provide the driving force. The liquid head in the downcomer, which provides the driving force, shows great self-regulation ability with different working conditions. Increasing the refrigerant charge, temperature difference, circulation flow resistance, and decreasing the height difference drives the liquid head to rise, and the downcomer tends to be fully liquid filled.