Heat Pipes

Colmac Coil heat pipe coils (heat exchangers) are designed to efficiently transfer heat from a warm air stream to a colder one. Heat pipe coils are constructed of multiple individually sealed heat pipes evacuated and charged with a volatile refrigerant. The heat pipe coil is partitioned in the center so that the warm air stream passes over one end (the evaporating end) of the heat pipes and a second cold air stream passes over the other end (the condensing end). As the refrigerant continuously evaporates and condenses within each individual heat pipe tube, heat is transferred between the two air streams with very high thermal effectiveness. Heat pipe coils are simple passive devices, with no moving parts, pumps, or external piping. Compared to heat wheels which rotate a thermal media through the airstreams to transfer heat, heat pipe coils offer the following advantages:

• No moving parts to maintain or replace

• The media (refrigerant) never “wears out” or becomes fouled… requiring maintenance

• Warm and cold airstreams never mix (become “cross-contaminated”)

Colmac Coil heat pipe coils can be designed for HVAC or industrial process applications covering a wide range of temperatures. Because the heat pipes use volatile refrigerants as working fluids, there is no risk of freeze damage as there is with water or glycol run-around loop systems.