Heat transfer enhancement in microchannel heat sinks using nanofluids

Heat transfer enhancement in a 3-D microchannel heat sink (MCHS) using nanofluids is investigated by a numerical study. The addition of nanoparticles to the coolant fluid changes its thermophysical properties in ways that are closely related to the type of nanoparticle, base fluid, particle volume fraction, particle size, and pumping power. The calculations in this work suggest that the best heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by using a system with an Al₂O₃–water nanofluid-cooled MCHS. Moreover, using base fluids with lower dynamic viscosity (such as water) and substrate materials with high thermal conductivity enhance the thermal performance of the MCHS. The results also show that as the particle volume fraction of the nanofluid increases, the thermal resistance first decreases and then increases. The lowest thermal resistance can be obtained by properly adjusting the volume fraction and pumping power under given geometric conditions. For a moderate range of particle sizes, the MCHS yields better performance when nanofluids with smaller nanoparticles are used. Furthermore, the overall thermal resistance of the MCHS is reduced significantly by increasing the pumping power. The heat transfer performance of Al₂O₃–water and diamond–water nanofluids was 21.6% better than that of pure water. The results reported here may facilitate improvements in the thermal performance of MCHSs.     

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.     

An investigation of the thermal performance of cylindrical heat pipes using nanofluids

In this work, a two-dimensional analysis is used to study the thermal performance of a cylindrical heat pipe utilizing nanofluids. Three of the most common nanoparticles, namely Al₂O₃, CuO, and TiO₂ are considered as the working fluid. A substantial change in the heat pipe thermal resistance, temperature distribution, and maximum capillary heat transfer of the heat pipe is observed when using a nanofluid. The nanoparticles within the liquid enhance the thermal performance of the heat pipe by reducing the thermal resistance while enhancing the maximum heat load it can carry. The existence of an optimum mass concentration for nanoparticles in maximizing the heat transfer limit is established. The effect of particle size on the thermal performance of the heat pipe is also investigated. It is found that smaller particles have a more pronounced effect on the temperature gradient along the heat pipe.     

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer of α-Al2O3/Water Nanofluid in Double Pipe and Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

This research presents an experimental and numerical study on the heat transfer of α-Al₂O₃/water nanofluid flowing through the double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers, under laminar flow conditions. Effects of important parameters such as hot and cold volume flow rates, nanofluid temperature, and nanoparticles concentration on the heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The results indicated that the heat transfer performance of both double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers increases with increasing the hot and cold volume flow rates, as well as the particle concentrations and nanofluid inlet temperature. Compared with pure water, the results indicated that the heat transfer coefficients of nanofluid in the double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers are higher than those of water by 13.2% and 21.3%, respectively. Also, the heat transfer performance of nanofluid in a shell and tube heat exchanger is 26.2% higher than the double pipe heat exchanger. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique was used for heat transfer simulation in the previously mentioned heat exchangers. Computed overall heat transfer coefficients of the nanofluids are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

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.     

Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Nanofluids in a Microchannel Heat Sink

The aim of this study is to determine the upper limitations of the particle volume fraction for heat transfer performance of TiO₂–water nanofluids in microchannels. Nanofluids were prepared by the addition of TiO₂ metallic nanoparticles into distilled water chosen as base fluid at five different volumetric ratios (0.25%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%). The effects of the Reynolds number (100–750) and particle volume fraction at constant microchannel height (200 μm) on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were analyzed experimentally. Adding metallic oxide particles with nano dimensions into the base fluid did not cause excessive increase of friction coefficient but provided higher heat transfer than that of pure water. It was also observed that water–TiO₂ nanofluid increased heat transfer up to 2.0 vol%, but heat transfer decreased after 2.0 vol%. Furthermore, the thermal resistance was calculated and it was seen that adding nanoparticles with an average diameter smaller than 25 nm into the base fluid caused the thermal resistance to decrease.     

Influence of nanofluid on heat transfer in a loop heat pipe

Experiments are conducted to investigate heat transfer characteristics of using nanofluid in a Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) as a working medium for heat input range from 20 W to 100 W. The experiments are carried out by manufacturing the LHP, in which the setup consists of a water tank with pump, a flat evaporator, condenser installed with two pieces of fans, two transportation lines (vapor and liquid lines), copper pipe sections for attachment of the thermocouples and power supply. The uniqueness of the current experimental setup is the vapor and liquid lines of LHP which are made of transparent plastic tube to visualize the fluid flow patterns. In this study, the LHP performance using silica (SiO₂–H₂O) nanofluid with particle volume fraction of 3% which was used as a coolant is examined. The experimental results are verified by simulation using Finite Element Method (FEM). The LHP performance is evaluated in terms of transient temperature distribution and total thermal resistance (R_t). R_t is estimated for both LHP using SiO₂–H₂O nanofluid and pure water cases under a steady state condition. The results reveal the average decrease of 28%–44% at heat input ranging from 20 W to 100 W in total thermal resistance of LHP using SiO₂–H₂O nanofluid as compared with pure water. Therefore, the presence of nanoparticles could greatly enhance the cooling of LHP. The experimental and simulation results are found in good agreement.     

Heat transfer in rectangular microchannels heat sink using nanofluids

The effect of using nanofluids on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in rectangular shaped microchannel heat sink (MCHS) is numerically investigated for Reynolds number range of 100–1000. In this study, the MCHS performance using alumina–water (Al₂O₃-H₂O) nanofluid with volume fraction ranged from 1% to 5% was used as a coolant is examined. The three-dimensional steady, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using finite volume method. The MCHS performance is evaluated in terms of temperature profile, heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, friction factor, wall shear stress and thermal resistance. The results reveal that when the volume fraction of nanoparticles is increased under the extreme heat flux, both the heat transfer coefficient and wall shear stress are increased while the thermal resistance of the MCHS is decreased. However, nanofluid with volume fraction of 5% could not be able to enhance the heat transfer or performing almost the same result as pure water. Therefore, the presence of nanoparticles could enhance the cooling of MCHS under the extreme heat flux conditions with the optimum value of nanoparticles. Only a slight increase in the pressure drop across the MCHS is found compared with the pure water-cooled MCHS.     

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.     

Heat Transfer in a Loop Heat Pipe using Diamond-H2O Nanofluid

The main aim of this study is to enhance the thermal performance of loop heat pipe (LHP) charged with nanofluid as the working fluid. Thus, experiments are conducted to investigate heat transfer characteristics of using diamond-H₂O nanofluid with nanoparticle mass concentration ranged from 0% to 3% in a LHP as a working medium for heat input range from 20 W to 60 W. The three-dimensional model, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. The simulations are carried out with three-dimensional model based on the characterization of the working fluid inside the LHP to give an insight into the heat transfer and fluid flow mechanism. The LHP performance is evaluated in terms of temperature distributions and total thermal resistance of LHP. It is inferred that the temperatures obtained at all points in evaporator side of LHP charged with diamond-H₂O nanofluid are lower and reach their steady state faster than LHP charged with pure water. At the constant heat input, test results showed the average decrease of 5.7%?10.8% at nanoparticle mass concentrations ranging from 0.5% to 3% in R_th of LHP as compared with pure water (0%).     

Experimental investigation of titanium nanofluids on the heat pipe thermal efficiency

The enhancement heat transfer of the heat transfer devices can be done by changing the fluid transport properties and flow features of working fluids. In the present study, therefore, the enhancement of heat pipe thermal efficiency with nanofluids is presented. The heat pipe is fabricated from the straight copper tube with the outer diameter and length of 15, 600 mm, respectively. The heat pipe with the de-ionic water, alcohol, and nanofluids (alcohol and nanoparticles) are tested. The titanium nanoparticles with diameter of 21 nm are used in the present study which the mixtures of alcohol and nanoparticles are prepared using an ultrasonic homogenizer. Effects of %charge amount of working fluid, heat pipe tilt angle and %nanoparticles volume concentrations on the thermal efficiency of heat pipe are considered. The nanoparticles have a significant effect on the enhancement of thermal efficiency of heat pipe. The thermal efficiency of heat pipe with the nanofluids is compared with that the based fluid.     

Thermal performance of flat-shaped heat pipes using nanofluids

Analytical models are utilized to investigate the thermal performance of rectangular and disk-shaped heat pipes using nanofluids. The liquid pressure, liquid velocity profile, temperature distribution of the heat pipe wall, temperature gradient along the heat pipe, thermal resistance and maximum heat load are obtained for the flat-shaped heat pipes utilizing a nanofluid as the working fluid. The flat-shaped heat pipe’s thermal performance using a nanofluid is substantially enhanced compared with one using a regular fluid. The nanoparticles presence within the working fluid results in a decrease in the thermal resistance and an increase in the maximum heat load capacity of the flat-shaped heat pipe. The existence of an optimum nanoparticle concentration level and wick thickness in maximizing the heat removal capability of the flat-shaped heat pipe was established.     

Numerical investigation of effective parameters in convective heat transfer of nanofluids flowing under a laminar flow regime

This article presents a numerical investigation on heat transfer performance and pressure drop of nanofluids flows through a straight circular pipe in a laminar flow regime and constant heat flux boundary condition. Al₂O₃, CuO, carbon nanotube (CNT) and titanate nanotube (TNT) nanoparticles dispersed in water and ethylene glycol/water with particle concentrations ranging between 0 and 6 vol.% were used as working fluids for simulating the heat transfer and flow behaviours of nanofluids. The proposed model has been validated with the available experimental data and correlations. The effects of particle concentrations, particle diameter, particles Brownian motions, Reynolds number, type of the nanoparticles and base fluid on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of nanofluids were determined and discussed in details. The results indicated that the particle volume concentration, Brownian motion and aspect ratio of nanoparticles similar to flow Reynolds number increase the heat transfer coefficient, while the nanoparticle diameter has an opposite effect on the heat transfer coefficient. Finally, the present study provides some considerations for the appropriate choice of the nanofluids for practical applications.     

Numerical Study of Turbulent Flow and Heat Transfer of Nanofluids in Pipes

In this work, Nusselt number and friction factor are calculated numerically for turbulent pipe flow (Reynolds number between 6000 and 12000) with constant heat flux boundary condition using nanofluids. The nanofluid is modeled with the single-phase approach and the simulation results are compared with correlations from experimental data. Ethylene glycol and water, 60:40 EG/W mass ratio, as base fluid and SiO₂ nanoparticles are used as nanofluid with particle volume concentrations ranging from 0% to 10%. Nusselt number predictions for the nanofluid are in agreement with experimental results and a conventional single-phase correlation. The mean deviation is in the range of ?5%. Friction factor values show a mean deviation of 0.5% to a conventional single-phase correlation, however, they differ considerably from the nanofluid experimental data. The results indicate that the nanofluid requires more pumping power than the base fluid for high particle concentrations and Reynolds numbers on the basis of equal heat transfer rate.     

Augmented Thermal Performance of Straight Heat Pipe Employing Annular Screen Mesh Wick and Surfactant Free Stable Aqueous Nanofluids

Stable surfactant-free Al₂O₃/deionized (DI) water nanofluids are prepared by a two-step process and are stabilized using an ultrasonic homogenizer. The thermal conductivity enhancement measured by a transient hot wire technique demonstrated a nonlinear relationship with increase in volume fraction of dispersed nanoparticles and attains a maximum enhancement of 15% for 1 vol% of Al₂O₃ loading in deionized water at 70°C. The stabilized Al₂O₃/DI water nanofluids were employed as the working fluid in a screen mesh wick heat pipe placed horizontally. The straight heat pipe configuration is altered for more practicality in use, with crimped edges, extended conduction lengths, and minute surface depressions. The heat pipe is tested at various levels of heat inputs and concentrations of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles. The evaporator section is heated by circulating water through a heating chamber, and the condenser section is cooled under free convection. The experimental results show an optimum reduction of 22% in the thermal resistance value using 1 vol% of Al₂O₃/DI nanofluids as compared to DI water at low heat input of 12 W. The stabilized operation of the heat pipe is observed at high heat input of 73 W and at low concentration of 0.005 vol% Al₂O₃/DI water nanofluids. The findings emphasize potential for nanofluids as future heat pipe fluids.     

A Feasibility Study About Using SiO2 Nanofluid Screen Mesh Wick Heat Pipe for Cooling of High-Power LEDs

Effective and timely heat removal from high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is crucial to their performance and lifetime. The strategy of using a screen mesh wick heat pipe with SiO₂ nanofluid as the working fluid for LED heat dissipation is comprehensively evaluated. An experimental system is set up to study the heat transfer performance of the heat pipe. The obtained experimental results give optimal conditions/parameters for the heat pipe: 60% charging ratio, 30° incline angle, and 1wt% concentration of the nanofluid. Compared with a heat pipe using the secondary distilled water as the working fluid, the thermal resistance of the heat pipe using the SiO₂ nanofluid as the working fluid is generally reduced by around 35–40% for the investigated heat load range of 1–60 W. Based on an equivalent heat conductivity of the SiO₂ nanofluid heat pipe derived from the experimental results, an Icepak modeling effort for the cooling system of a 60-W LED lamp is then expended. The numerical results show that the temperature of the LED lamp remains low and quite uniform across the LED chip region, indicating the technical feasibility of using this class of heat pipes for cooling of high-power LEDs.     

Analysis of microchannel heat sink performance using nanofluids

In this study, silicon microchannel heat sink performance using nanofluids as coolants was analyzed. The nanofluid was a mixture of pure water and nanoscale Cu particles with various volume fractions. The heat transfer and friction coefficients required in the analysis were based on theoretical models and experimental correlations. In the theoretical model, nanofluid was treated as a single-phase fluid. In the experimental correlation, thermal dispersion due to particle random motion was included. The microchannel heat sink performances for two specific geometries, one with W_ch = W_fin = 100 μm and L_ch = 300 μm, the other with W_ch = W_fin = 57 μm and L_ch = 365 μm, were examined. Because of the increased thermal conductivity and thermal dispersion effects, it was found that the performances were greatly improved for these two specific geometries when nanofluids were used as the coolants. In addition to heat transfer enhancement, the existence of nanoparticles in the fluid did not produce extra pressure drop because of small particle size and low particle volume fraction.     

A dispersion model for predicting the heat transfer performance of TiO2–water nanofluids under a laminar flow regime

Nanofluids are a suspension of particles with ultrafine size in a conventional base fluid that increases the heat transfer performance of the original base fluid. They show higher thermal performance than base fluids especially in terms of the thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient. During the last decade, many studies have been carried out on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of nanofluids, both experimentally and theoretically. The purpose of this article is to propose a dispersion model for predicting the heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids under laminar flow conditions. TiO₂ nanoparticles dispersed in water with various volume fractions and flowing in a horizontal straight tube under constant wall heat flux were used. In addition, the predicted values were compared with the experimental data from He et al. [14]. In the present study, the results show that the proposed model can be used to predict the heat transfer behaviour of nanofluids with reasonable accuracy. Moreover, the results also indicate that the predicted values of the heat transfer coefficient obtained from the present model differ from those obtained by using the Li and Xuan equation by about 3.5% at a particle volume fraction of 2.0%.     

Experimental investigation on the thermal efficiency and performance characteristics of a flat plate solar collector using SiO2/EG–water nanofluids

Application of nanofluids in thermal energy devices such as solar collectors is developing day by day. This paper reports the results of experiments on a flat plate solar collector where the working fluid is SiO₂/ethylene glycol (EG)–water nanofluid with volume fractions up to 1%. The thermal efficiency and performance characteristics of solar collector are obtained for mass flow rates between 0.018 and 0.045 kg/s. The curve characteristics of solar collector indicate that the effects of particle loading on the thermal efficiency enhancement are more pronounced at higher values of heat loss parameter. The results of this work elucidate the potential of SiO₂ nanoparticles to improve the efficiency of solar collectors despite its low thermal conductivity compared to other usual nanoparticles.     

Enhancement of thermal performance in double-layered microchannel heat sink with nanofluids

A three-dimensional analysis aimed at enhancing the thermal performance of a double-layered microchannel heat sink by using a nanofluid and varying the geometric parameters has been conducted. A system of fully elliptic equations that govern the flow and thermal fields are solved using the finite volume method. The analysis indicates that the dominant factors determining the thermal resistance of the channel include the type of nanofluid; particle volume fraction; geometric parameters of the channel, such as the channel number, channel width ratio, channel aspect ratio; and pumping power. The results indicate that the greatest enhancement in channel cooling can be expected when an Al₂O₃–water nanofluid is used. The thermal resistance of the channel can be minimized by properly adjusting the particle volume fraction under various pumping powers; the minimum thermal resistance depends on the geometric parameters. The study also reveals that the relationship between the thermal resistance and channel number, channel width ratio, or channel aspect ratio exhibits a decrease followed by an increase. The thermal performance of the channel can usually be improved by decreasing the channel number or channel aspect ratio, or increasing the channel width ratio. Finally, increasing the pumping power reduces the overall thermal resistance. An Al₂O₃ (1%)–water nanofluid shows an average improvement in thermal performance of 26% over that of pure water for a given pumping power. However, the design’s effectiveness declines significantly under high pumping power. In particular, the thermal resistance obtained by employing nanofluids was not necessarily lower than that of water under all pumping powers, but it can be reduced by properly adjusting the geometric parameters under optimal conditions.