| 摘要 |
A heat pipe heat exchanger is provided in the form of a serpentine heat pipe (38) that does not have the ends of the individual tubes manifolded to one another via a straight pipe or via any other common connector. Instead, it has been discovered that heat pipes connected via U-bends (31) to form a continuous coil function adequately. The serpentine heat pipe may include in - tegral condenser and evaporator portions separated by a divider to form a one-slab heat exchanger, or separate evaporator and condenser coils connect- ed to one another by vapor and return lines to form a two-section heat pipe. A method of producing a serpentine heat pipe indludes providing a plurality of U-shaped tubes (30) which are interconnected to form a single serpentine he at pipe (38), one of the tubes having an open end, and inserting sufficient ref ri- gerant (34) in the one tube to allow each of the tubes to function as a separate heat pipe. The serpentine heat pipe heat exchanger may be used to increase the dehumidification capacity of an air conditioner.
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