Heat transfer studies in microplate heat exchanger using nanofluids

Abstract

Recent evolution in thermal engineering needs more efforts to find the suitable method for enhancing the heat transfer process especially in the field of electronic and automobile cooling which may lead to some environmental issues with respect to the climate change. In general, the cooling process is carried out with the help of heat exchangers and the working fluids. The selection of heat exchanger is normally depends upon the required heat transfer rate, type of fluids to be used and the desired temperature of the process fluid. Various methods are available to enhance the heat transfer rate and for the better cooling process. One suitable method for this cooling process is the use of compact type heat exchanger with nanofluids as a working fluid. The compactness of heat exchanger and the enhanced thermal properties of nanofluids help to enhance the effective heat transfer rate. Heat transfer studies in Microplate heat exchanger is conducted with ZnO-Water, ZnO-EG, TiO2-Water, TiO2-EG nanofluids and ZnO-TiO2/ ethylene glycol hybrid nanofluids. The selected range of volume fraction is 1% to 4%, the temperature range is 30°C to 50°C and the plate height is varied from 200and#956;m to 400and#956;m. Before conducting the experiments, the effect of temperature and volume fraction of nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids were analyzed and the results were compared. The thermal conductivity analysis result shows that the volume fraction of nanoparticles and the temperature is highly influence on the thermal conductivity of both nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids. The maximum enhancement in thermal conductivity is achieved at the maximum volume fraction of nanoparticles (4%) and at maximum temperature (50°C). newline