This is a Fourth biennial Minsk International Seminar and exhibition "HEAT PIPES, HEAT PUMPS, REFRIGERATORS" since 1993 under the auspices of CIS Association "Heat Pipes", Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, International Institute of Refrigeration and some other Ministries and Institutions.
The main goal of these meetings is still the same -- to provide an opportunity for scientists and engineers particularly from the Former Soviet Union and its neighboring countries to meet the researchers and specialists from western countries and the world leading countries in the field of heat pipes, sorption heat pumps and refrigerators. There are well known meetings all over the world in the field of heat pipes and sorption machines. Today International Heat Pipe Conferences have a very good reputation since 1973, the date of the First Heat pipe Conference in Stuttgart (Groll, 1973). The next Conferences were in Bologna (Busse, 1976), London (Reay, 1081), Tsukuba (Oshima, 1984), Grenoble (Curtilla, 1987), Minsk (Vasiliev, 1990), Beijing (Tongze Ma, 1992), Albuquerque (Merrigan, 1995), Stuttgart (Groll, 1997), Tokyo (Maezawa, 1999).
We know quite well the heat pumps and refrigerators Conferences such, as Stockholm (Wettermark, 1980), Paris (CEC, 1985), Tokyo (Watanabe, 1991), Paris (Meunier,1992), New Orleans (Redermacher, 1994), Montreal (Nikanpour, Hosatte, 1996), Munich (Ziegler, 1999).
Minsk International Seminars (1993, 1995, 1997, 2000) are a middle size designed scientific meetings oriented on beneficial application of heat pipes in sorption machines. The main goal of Minsk Seminar is to combine efforts of heat pipe specialists and sorption machines specialists to solve the problem of heat and mass transfer enhancement in nature friendly heat pumps, refrigerators, heat exchangers and to improve the ecology of our planet and reduce the energy consumption. The second important problem to solve is the electronic equipment thermal control (computers, Telecom systems, space environmental two-phase thermal control technology, et.).
The first reason to this activity with Minsk Seminar foundation was a USSR patent pending No. 174411 "Heat Pipe" (B. I. 24, 30.06.1992). This device combines the enhanced heat and mass transfer in conventional heat pipes with sorption phenomena of sorbent bed inside it It means, that this device could be used as a sorption machine element and be cooled and heated as a heat pipe.
The 4th Minsk Seminar Proceedings incorporate 37 papers, including 6 invited lectures. Approximately 60 participants attended this Seminar, representing 17 countries, such as: United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Poland, Italy, Korea, Russia, India, Japan, China, Taiwan, Canada, U.S.A., Lithuania, Ukraine, South Africa.
The contributions were presented as oral lectures, or as posters. If you compare the discussions from the meeting in 1993 (First Minsk Seminar) with today program you may be amazed how modest the progress is: solid sorption machines still are said to be at the edge of breakthrough and need to be competitive to mechanical vapor compression heat pumps and refrigerators. But heat pipe technology progress for today is evident - miniature heat pipes are used in 80% of Notebook PCs produced in millions in the world.
I believe heat pipe technology in the near future will be a good opportunity to change the sorption chillers technology and improve its performance. The most important change in this field is sorption machines efficiency, compactness and reliability. Unfortunately till now sorption heat pumps and refrigerators are considered as a niche technology not so well known for the engineers. Therefore not only the industry, but academia also is responsible of future progress in this area. We believe that such a way of dealing with scientific matters will promote personal contacts, extremely needed for scientists and engineers from East and West European countries and the world leading countries.
I am glad to express my sincere thanks to the International Scientific Committee, Belarussian Honorary and Organizing Committee and main Sponsors - National Academy of Sciences, Fund for Fundamental Research, Republic Belarus, International Institute of Refrigeration, NPO "Atlant", State Committee of Energy Recovery, CIS Association "Heat Pipes", Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute and all the others Institutions and Companies, all participants, who helped us in organizing this Fourth Minsk International Seminar "Heat Pipes, Heat Pumps, Refrigerators" and whose efforts made the Seminar a success. I hope that you will consider these Proceedings to be an interesting and valuable document of the international progress of heat pipes and sorption machines technology.
September 2000, Minsk, Belarus
Leonard L. Vasiliev, Seminar Chairman