Use of heat pipes to improve temperature performance of a chilled refrigerated display cabinet

A heat pipe was used to provide cooling to the front of the shelf of a glass door refrigerated display cabinet. The heat pipe reduced the core temperature of the test pack above it by 0.2 K. A thermal imaging camera was used to ascertain boundary conditions for a CFD model which then predicted a reduction in the core temperature of the test pack above the heat pipe by 0.5 K The reason for the limited benefit of the heat pipe measured and predicted was that the temperature of the shelf below the front pack was only slightly higher than the heat pipe cooling it. Using the thermal imaging camera and the CFD model, the predictions were extended to an open fronted cabinet. The heat pipe was predicted to reduce the core temperature of the test pack above it by 1.7 K Heat pipes were shown to be of more benefit in open fronted than glass door cabinets.