Flow boiling heat transfer in the evaporator of a loop thermosyphon operating with CuO based aqueous nanofluid

An experimental study was carried out to understand the flow boiling heat transfer of water based CuO nanofluids in the evaporator of a thermosyphon loop under steady sub-atmospheric pressures. Experimental results show that both the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the critical heat flux (CHF) of flow boiling in the evaporator of the thermosyphon loop could be enhanced by substituting nanofluids for water. The operating pressure has apparent impact on the HTC enhancement of nanofluids. However, the operating pressure has negligible effect on the CHF enhancement. There exists an optimal mass concentration of nanoparticles corresponding to the best enhancement effect. Experimental results show that the CHF enhancement results mainly from the existing of the coating layer on the heated surface formed by the sediment of nanoparticles. However, the HTC enhancement results from the effects of both the existing of the coating layer and the change of thermophysical properties of the working fluid.     

Influence of carbon nanotube suspension on the thermal performance of a miniature thermosyphon

An experimental study was carried out to understand the heat transfer performance of a miniature thermosyphon using water-based carbon nanotube (CNT) suspensions as the working fluid. The suspensions consisted of deionized water and multi-wall carbon nanotubes with an average diameter of 15 nm and a length range of 5–15 μm. Experiments were performed under three steady operation pressures of 7.4 kPa, 13.2 kPa and 20 kPa, respectively. Effects of the CNT mass concentration and the operation pressure on the average evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients, the critical heat flux and the total heat resistance of the thermosyphon were investigated and discussed. Experimental results show that CNT suspensions can apparently improve the thermal performance of the thermosyphon and there is an optimal CNT mass concentration (about 2.0%) to achieve the maximum heat transfer enhancement. The operation pressure has a significant influence on the enhancement of the evaporation heat transfer coefficient, and slight influences on the enhancement of the critical heat flux. The enhanced heat transfer effect is weak at low heat fluxes while it is increased gradually with increasing the heat flux. The present experiment confirms that the thermal performance of a miniature thermosyphon can be strengthened evidently by using CNT suspensions.     

Investigation of thermohydraulic performance of triple concentric-tube heat exchanger with CuO/water nanofluid: Numerical approach

In this study, numerical investigation of CuO/water nanofluids in a triple concentric-tube heat exchanger has been carried out using a commercial CFD software. The primary objective of this study is to conduct a heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of water-based CuO nanofluids under turbulent flow regime. Reynolds number for the nanofluid has also been considered in the range of 2500 to 10,000 with a nanoparticle volume concentration of 0% to 3%. The effects of flow rate, volume concentration of nanoparticles, and flow arrangement on heat transfer performance of nanofluid have been studied for four flow arrangements. The comparison of the performance with and without nanofluid has been done. It was found that thermal performance and overall effectiveness increased with the increase in Reynolds number and volume concentration of nanoparticles in all the four flow arrangements for the considered range of operating parameters.     

Thermal performance of inclined grooved heat pipes using nanofluids

An experimental study was performed to investigate the thermal performance of an inclined miniature grooved heat pipe using water-based CuO nanofluid as the working fluid. This study focused mainly on the effects of the inclination angle and the operating pressure on the heat transfer of the heat pipe using the nanofluid with the mass concentration of CuO nanoparticles of 1.0 wt%. The experiment was performed at three steady sub-atmospheric pressures. Experimental results show that the inclination angle has a strong effect on the heat transfer performance of heat pipes using both water and the nanofluid. The inclination angle of 45° corresponds to the best thermal performance for heat pipes using both water and the nanofluid. The present investigation indicates that the thermal performance of an inclined miniature grooved heat pipe can be strengthened by using CuO nanofluid.     

Thermal resistance of screen mesh wick heat pipes using the water-based Al2O3 nanofluids

In the present study, the effect of nanofluids on the thermal performance of heat pipes is experimentally investigated by testing circular screen mesh wick heat pipes using water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids with the volume fraction of 1.0 and 3.0 Vol.%. The wall temperature distributions and the thermal resistances between the evaporator and the adiabatic sections are measured and compared with those for the heat pipe using DI water. The averaged evaporator wall temperatures of the heat pipes using the water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids are much lower than those of the heat pipe using DI water. The thermal resistance of the heat pipe using the water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids with the volume fraction of 3.0 Vol.% is significantly reduced by about 40% at the evaporator-adiabatic section. Also, the experimentally results implicitly show that the water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids as the working fluid instead of DI water can enhance the maximum heat transport rate of the heat pipe. Based on the two clear evidences, we conclude that the major reason which can not only improve the maximum heat transport rate but also significantly reduce the thermal resistance of the heat pipe using nanofluids is not the enhancement of the effective thermal conductivity which most of previous researchers presented. Especially, we experimentally first observe the thin porous coating layer formed by nanoparticles suspended in nanofluids at wick structures. Based on the observation, it is first shown that the primary mechanism on the enhancement of the thermal performance for the heat pipe is the coating layer formed by nanoparticles at the evaporator section because the layer can not only extend the evaporation surface with high heat transfer performance but also improve the surface wettability and capillary wicking performance.     

重力热管内部相变及传热传质过程的数值模拟

重力热管内部包含复杂的两相流动以及相变传热过程,传统理论分析及实验手段不能直观给出其内部流动、相变、热质传递的详细信息。采用VOF(volume of fluid)多相流模型对重力热管内气液两相流动及传热进行模拟,捕捉到蒸发段气泡产生、合并、长大、上升,以及冷凝段壁面附近液滴形成、合并、下滑、汇集到液池的全过程,得到的壁温分布与实验测量值对比体现良好一致性,表明数值模拟的正确性。同时,以热阻、传热量和热效率为评价标准,研究不同充液率和倾斜角度下对重力热管运行性能的影响。结果表明:在所研究的参数范围内,随着充液率的增加,热阻逐渐减小,冷凝段传热量逐渐增大。且工质初始充注量充满蒸发段时热管性能较好;倾角对热阻的影响不明显,冷凝段传热量和热效率均随倾角增加而增长。     

Heat transfer performance and exergy analyses of a corrugated plate heat exchanger using metal oxide nanofluids

Heat exchangers have been widely used for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. Nanofluids are potential coolants, which can afford excellent thermal performance in heat exchangers. This study examined the effects of water and CuO/water nanofluids (as coolants) on heat transfer coefficient, heat transfer rate, frictional loss, pressure drop, pumping power and exergy destruction in the corrugated plate heat exchanger. The heat transfer coefficient of CuO/water nanofluids increased about 18.50 to 27.20% with the enhancement of nanoparticles volume concentration from 0.50 to 1.50% compared to water. Moreover, improvement in heat transfer rate was observed for nanofluids. On the other hand, exergy loss was reduced by 24% employing nanofluids as a heat transfer medium with comparing to conventional fluid. Besides, 34% higher exergetic heat transfer effectiveness was found for 1.5 vol.% of nanoparticles. It has a small penalty in the pumping power. Hence, the plate heat exchanger performance can be improved by adapting the working fluid with CuO/water nanofluids.     

Experimental and analytical investigation on an automobile radiator with CuO/EG‐water based nanofluid as coolant

In the present study, experimental and analytical thermal performance of automobile radiator using nanofluids is investigated and compared with performance obtained with conventional coolants. Effect of operating parameters and nanoparticle concentration on heat transfer rate are studied for water as well as CuO/EG‐water based nanofluid analytically. The results are presented in the form of graphs showing variations of net heat transfer rate for various coolant flow rate, air velocity, and source temperature for various CuO/EG‐water based nanofluids. Experimental results indicate that with the increase in coolant flow rate and air velocity, heat transfer rate increases, reaches maximum and then decreases. Experimental investigation of a radiator is carried out using CuO/EG‐water based nanofluids. Results obtained by experimental work and analytical MATLAB code are almost the same. Maximum absolute error in water and air side is within 12% for all flow condition and coolant fluids. Nusselt number of nanofluid is calculated using equation number 33[9]. The results obtained from experimental work using 0.2% volume CuO/EG‐water based nanofluids are compared with the results obtained from MATLAB code. The results show that the maximum error in the outlet temperature of the coolant and air is 12% in each case. Thus MATLAB code can be used for different concentration of nanofluids to study the effect of operating parameters on heat transfer rate. Thus MATLAB code developed is valid for given heat exchanger applications. From the results obtained by already validated MATLAB code, it is concluded that increase in coolant flow rate, air velocity, and source temperature increases the heat transfer rate. Addition of nanoparticles in the base fluid increases the heat transfer rate for all kind of base fluids. Among all the nanofluid analyzed in this study, water‐based nanofluid gives highest value of heat transfer rate and is recommended for the heat exchanger applications under normal operating conditions. Maximum enhancement is observed for ethylene glycol‐water (4:6) mixture for 1% volume concentration of CuO is almost equal to 20%. As heat transfer rate increases with the use of nanofluids, the heat transfer area of the radiator can be minimized.     

Experimental investigation of small diameter two-phase closed thermosyphons charged with water,FC-84, FC-77 and FC-3283

An experimental investigation of the performance of thermosyphons charged with water as well as the dielectric heat transfer liquids FC-84, FC-77 and FC-3283 has been carried out. The copper thermosyphon was 200 mm long with an inner diameter of 6 mm, which can be considered quite small compared with the vast majority of thermosyphons reported in the open literature. The evaporator length was 40 mm and the condenser length was 60 mm which corresponds with what might be expected in compact heat exchangers. With water as the working fluid two fluid loadings were investigated, that being 0.6 ml and 1.8 ml, corresponding to approximately half filled and overfilled evaporator section in order to ensure combined pool boiling and thin film evaporation/boiling and pool boiling only conditions, respectively. For the Fluorinert? liquids, only the higher fill volume was tested as the aim was to investigate pool boiling opposed to thin film evaporation. Generally, the water-charged thermosyphon evaporator and condenser heat transfer characteristics compared well with available predictive correlations and theories. The thermal performance of the water-charged thermosyphon also outperformed the other three working fluids in both the effective thermal resistance as well as maximum heat transport capabilities. Even so, FC-84, the lowest saturation temperature fluid tested, shows marginal improvement in the heat transfer at low operating temperatures. All of the tested Fluorinert? liquids offer the advantage of being dielectric fluids, which may be better suited for sensitive electronics cooling applications and were all found to provide adequate thermal performance up to approximately 30–50 W after which liquid entrainment compromised their performance.     

开放式热管中温太阳能空气集热装置的试验研究

设计一种使用简化CPC(非追踪式复合抛物线聚光板)集热板和新型开放式热管组合的全真空玻璃集热管中温太阳能空气集热装置。每个集热单元包括一个简化CPC集热板,一根全真空玻璃集热管,在玻璃集热管内安装一个铜管和外部的一个蒸汽包连接构成一个开放式热管结构。蒸汽包内安装螺旋换热管加热通过换热管的流动空气工质。分别使用水和CuO纳米流体作为热管工质,以空气作为集热工质,对热管式中温空气集热器的传热特性进行了实验研究。分析了不同工作压力、不同工质及纳米流体质量分数对热管集热传热特性的影响,详细比较了热管水工质和纳米流体工质在集热传热性能上的优劣。试验结果表明:本系统只使用2根玻璃集热管构成集热器,空气最大出口温度在夏天可达到200℃,在冬天可接近160℃,系统平均集热效率达到0.4以上,整个系统表现了良好的中温集热特性。以纳米流体为工质的热管热阻比以水为工质时平均降低了20%左右     

Experimental comparative study of heat pipe performance using CuO and TiO2 nanofluids

In recent years, developing an energy efficient conventional heat pipe is more important because of the development of electronics and computer industries. To enhance the thermal performance of heat pipe, different nanofluids have been widely used. In this paper, an experimental investigation of heat transfer performance of heat pipe has been conducted using three different working fluids such as DI water, CuO nanofluid and TiO₂ nanofluid. The heat pipe used in this study is made up of copper layered with two layers of screen mesh wick for better capillary action. The Parameters considered in this study are heat input, angle of inclination and evaporator fill ratio. The concentration of nanoparticle used in this study is of 1.0 wt.%. From the experimental results, comparisons of thermal performance were made between the heat pipes using various working fluids. Among various fill ratio charged, the heat pipe shows good thermal performance when it is operated at 75% fill ratio for all working fluids. However, the heat pipe operated with CuO nanofluid showed higher results compared with TiO₂ nanofluid and DI water. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation of the loop thermosyphon with different adiabatic lengths charged with different working fluids

This paper reports an experimental investigation of a closed-loop thermosyphon system charged with water and other low saturation fluids, such as ethanol, acetone, and methanol, for different adiabatic lengths, filling ratios, and heat loads. The closed-loop thermosyphon with two inline vertical heaters in the evaporator section and forced air-cooled plate-type heat exchanger in the condenser section, connected by a changeable adiabatic length, is investigated at different working conditions. Out of five filling ratios used in the analysis, at 0.6 filling ratio, the loop thermosyphon is seen to be operated at its best. The acetone-charged loop thermosyphon shows the lowest values (up to 72% reduction) of overall thermal resistance than that of other fluids and significantly higher effectiveness, due to the plate-type forced air-cooled condenser. For the acetone-filled thermosyphon, an almost 15% increase in the effectiveness is observed by changing the adiabatic length from 800 to 200 mm. This study suggests that the limitation of the loop thermosyphon with a water-cooled condenser to cool electronic components, computational clusters, and data centers is well fulfilled by the loop thermosyphon with plate-type forced air-cooled condenser. The nucleate pool boiling correlation is developed and validated for the loop thermosyphon system to determine the evaporator heat transfer coefficient.     

Effect of nanofluids on the thermal performance of a flat micro heat pipe with a rectangular grooved wick

In this paper, the effect of water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids as working fluid on the thermal performance of a flat micro-heat pipe with a rectangular grooved wick is investigated. For the purpose, the axial variations of the wall temperature, the evaporation and condensation rates are considered by solving the one-dimensional conduction equation for the wall and the augmented Young–Laplace equation for the phase change process. In particular, the thermophysical properties of nanofluids as well as the surface characteristics formed by nanoparticles such as a thin porous coating are considered. From the comparison of the thermal performance using both DI water and nanofluids, it is found that the thin porous coating layer formed by nanoparticles suspended in nanofluids is a key effect of the heat transfer enhancement for the heat pipe using nanofluids. Also, the effects of the volume fraction and the size of nanoparticles on the thermal performance are studied. The results shows the feasibility of enhancing the thermal performance up to 100% although water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids with the concentration less than 1.0% is used as working fluid. Finally, it is shown that the thermal resistance of the nanofluid heat pipe tends to decrease with increasing the nanoparticle size, which corresponds to the previous experimental results.     

Thermal performance of an oscillating heat pipe with Al2O3–water nanofluids

An experimental investigation was performed on the thermal performance of an oscillating heat pipe (OHP) charged with base water and spherical Al₂O₃ particles of 56 nm in diameter. The effects of filling ratios, mass fractions of alumina particles, and power inputs on the total thermal resistance of the OHP were investigated. Experimental results showed that the alumina nanofluids significantly improved the thermal performance of the OHP, with an optimal mass fraction of 0.9 wt.% for maximal heat transfer enhancement. Compared with pure water, the maximal thermal resistance was decreased by 0.14 °C/W (or 32.5%) when the power input was 58.8 W at 70% filling ratio and 0.9% mass fraction. By examining the inner wall samples, it was found that the nanoparticle settlement mainly took place at the evaporator. The change of surface condition at the evaporator due to nanoparticle settlement was found to be the major reason for the enhanced thermal performance of the alumina nanofluid-charged OHP.     

Comparative heat transfer characteristics of a flat two-phase closed thermosyphon (FTPCT) and a conventional two-phase closed thermosyphon (CTPCT)

This study investigated the effects of cross-sectional geometries, filling ratio and aspect ratio on thermal performance of thermosyphon at different rates of heat input. Two cross-sectional geometries of thermosyphon (circular and flat) were used. Each cross-sectional geometry was charged with distilled water with different filling ratios, aspect ratios and heat input. The results indicated that the FTPCT had a higher average wall temperature in the evaporator section than that of the CTPCT. The maximum heat input had a significant influence on the heat fluxes for each filling ratio and evaporator length. Heat fluxes were increased with an increase of aspect ratio and heat input and decreased slightly at the maximum aspect ratios.     

Thermal Performance Enhancement of L-Shaped Microgrooved Heat Pipe Containing Water-Based Al2O3 Nanofluids

An experimental study was performed to investigate the thermal performance of an L-shaped grooved heat pipe with cylindrical cross section, which contained 0.5 wt% water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluid as the working fluid. The transient performance of the heat pipe and the effect of cooling water temperature on the heat transfer characteristics of the heat pipe were investigated. The outer diameter and the length of the heat pipe were 6 mm and 220 mm, respectively. Experimental results revealed that the temperature of the cooling water has a significant effect on the thermal resistance of the heat pipe containing nanofluids as its working fluid. By increasing the cooling water temperature from 5°C to 27.5°C, the thermal resistance decreases by approximately 40%. At the same charge volume, test results indicated an average reduction of 30% in thermal resistance of heat pipes with nanofluid as compared with heat pipe containing pure water. For transient conditions, unsteady state time for nanofluids was reduced by approximately 28%, when compared with water as the working fluid.     

Experimental investigation of pool boiling characteristics of low-concentrated CuO/ethylene glycol–water nanofluids

Boiling heat transfer performance of nanofluid has been studied during the past few years. Some controversial results are reported in literature about the potential impact of nanofluids on heat transfer intensification. Whereas the mixtures of ethylene glycol and water are considered the most common water-based antifreeze solutions used in automotive cooling systems, the present study is an experimental investigation of boiling heat transfer of CuO/ethylene glycol–water (60/40) nanofluids. The results indicate that a considerable boiling heat transfer enhancement has been achieved by nanofluid and the enhancement increases with nanoparticles concentration and reaches 55% at a nanoparticles loading of 0.5%.     

Experimental thermal–hydraulic evaluation of CuO nanofluids in microchannels at various concentrations with and without suspension enhancers

This experimental study focuses on the effect of two important factors on the heat transfer and flow properties of copper oxide (CuO)/water nanofluids in a parallel microchannel flow configuration. The first factor considered is the solid media (CuO) concentration. In this investigation, concentration values of 0.005%, 0.01%, and 0.1% by volume were tested. The second factor is the use of a surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), as a suspension enhancer. All together, these two factors led to a total of six types of nanofluids, which were tested in addition to pure water, the reference fluid. The experimental setup allowed for the determination of the hydrodynamic and thermal performance of each nanofluid. In addition, a selection of the nanofluids were characterized by the use of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) techniques. The DLS transient settling measurements showed that for a nanofluid with a concentration of 0.1% by volume, the nanoparticle dispersion and suspension is negatively affected unless a surfactant is used. Hydrodynamic losses, which were evaluated by comparing the effect of the imposed pressure drop on the mass flow rate, were not meaningfully affected by the composition of the nanofluids tested. The measurements also showed that nanofluids containing a surfactant generally provided a modest increase in heat transfer rate when compared with tests performed using pure water. The largest increase was about 17% for a fluid with a concentration of 0.01% by volume. Consequently, the gains in heat transfer do not appear to be accompanied by a significant pumping power penalty. The results of this study suggest that the use of a surfactant is essential in maintaining a proper suspension of nanoparticles in the fluid, especially at higher concentrations.     

Effect of Surface Tension Variation of the Working Fluid on the Performance of a Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe

In this article, the effect of surface tension variation of the working fluid on the thermal performance of a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) is presented. A two-turn closed loop PHP is fabricated with a combination of copper and quartz tubes having 2 mm inner diameter. Three filling ratios are considered in the present study. A common surfactant namely sodium dodecyl sulfate is used to vary the surface tension of the distilled water which is the base working fluid tested in the PHP. Visualization as well as heat transfer studies is performed in the PHP. Thermal resistances of working fluids with different surface tension are estimated for each filling ratio. Further, the effect of surfactant concentration on the hydrodynamics of the PHP is also discussed. Addition of surfactant induces formation of foam after the filling process and in some phase of PHP operation. It changes the flow regime boundaries and lowers the evaporator temperature under specific operating conditions. A flow regime map is also constructed for the present PHP. The working fluid with a lower surface tension gives a minimum evaporator temperature in the vertical orientation and thus, lowest thermal resistance has been obtained. However, surface tension does not influence the performance in the horizontal position appreciably.     

Thermal performance of screen mesh wick heat pipes using water-based copper nanofluids

Fairly stable surfactant free copper–distilled water nanofluids are prepared using prolonged sonication and homogenization. Thermal conductivity of the prepared nanofluid displays a maximum enhancement of ～15% for 0.5 wt% of Cu loading in distilled water at 30 °C. The wall temperature distributions and the thermal resistances between the evaporator and the condenser sections of a commercial screen mesh wick heat pipe containing nanofluids are investigated for three different angular position of the heat pipe. The results are compared with those for the same heat pipe with water as the working fluid. The wall temperatures of the heat pipes decrease along the test section from the evaporator section to the condenser section and increase with input power. The average evaporator wall temperatures of the heat pipe with nanofluids are much lower than those of the heat pipe with distilled water. The thermal resistance of the heat pipe using both distilled water and nanofluids is high at low heat loads and reduces rapidly to a minimum value as the applied heat load is increased. The thermal resistance of the vertically mounted heat pipe with 0.5 wt% of Cu–distilled water nanofluid is reduced by ～27%. The observed enhanced thermal performance is explained in light of the deposited Cu layer on the screen mesh wick in the evaporator section of the heat pipe.