Improving hydrothermal performance of hybrid nanofluid in double tube heat exchanger using tapered wire coil turbulator

Tapered wire coil insert is proposed as a novel enhancer in the double tube heat exchanger and experimental studies on Al₂O₃ + MgO hybrid nanofluid flowing under the turbulent condition are performed to investigate the hydrothermal characteristics. Effects of using tapered wire coil turbulator and hybrid nanofluid on the hydrothermal behaviors are examined for different coil configurations (Converging (C) type, Diverging (D) type and Conversing-Diverging (C-D) type) and hybrid nanofluid inlet temperatures and volume flow rates. Results show that D-type wire coil insert promotes better hydrothermal performance as compared to C-type and C-D type. Nusselt number and friction factor of hybrid nanofluid using D-type, C-D type and C-type wire coil inserts enhance up to 84%, 71% and 47%, and 68%, 57% and 46%, respectively than that of water in tube without insert. The entropy generation of hybrid nanofluid is lower than that of base fluid in all cases. The thermal performance factor for hybrid nanofluid is found more than one with all inserts. The thermal performance factor is observed a maximum of 1.69 for D-type coil. The study reveals that the hybrid nanofluid and tapered wire coil combination is promising option for improving the hydrothermal characteristics of double pipe heat exchanger.