Investigation of Thermosyphon Cooling for Drilling Operation: An Experimental Study
Tien-Chien Jen, Fern Tuchowski and Yau-Min Chen
This paper investigates using a thermosyphon in the center of a drill (thermosyphon drill) to remove the heat generated at the cutting tip and transfer it to the drill chuck, which acts as a heat sink, in an effort to reduce the temperature at the drill tip. This study compared the heat transfer performance of a thermosyphon drill to the performance of a solid drill and a heat pipe drill under simulated and actual drilling conditions. Results show that when using a drill with a thermosyphon the temperature of the drill tip was almost 60% lower than a solid drill for 45 and 55-volt power inputs and 37% lower for 35-volt power input. Compared to a heat pipe drill the maximum temperatures were reduced 18% to 36%. It was also shown that higher speed has an adverse effect on the operation of the thermosyphon, but in the worst case, the drill tip temperature was only 16% higher.