Nano Express
Performance evaluation on an air-cooled heat exchanger for alumina nanofluid under laminar flow
1 Department of Industrial Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Section 1, He-ping East Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 10610, Taiwan, Republic of China
2 Department of Mechatronic Technology, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Section 1, He-ping Eeast Road, Da-an District, Taipei City 10610, Taiwan, Republic of China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2011, 6:488 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-6-488
Published: 9 August 2011Abstract
This study analyzes the characteristics of alumina (Al2O3)/water nanofluid to determine the feasibility of its application in an air-cooled heat exchanger for heat dissipation for PEMFC or electronic chip cooling. The experimental sample was Al2O3/water nanofluid produced by the direct synthesis method at three different concentrations (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt.%). The experiments in this study measured the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluid with weight fractions and sample temperatures (20-60°C), and then used the nanofluid in an actual air-cooled heat exchanger to assess its heat exchange capacity and pressure drop under laminar flow. Experimental results show that the nanofluid has a higher heat exchange capacity than water, and a higher concentration of nanoparticles provides an even better ratio of the heat exchange. The maximum enhanced ratio of heat exchange and pressure drop for all the experimental parameters in this study was about 39% and 5.6%, respectively. In addition to nanoparticle concentration, the temperature and mass flow rates of the working fluid can affect the enhanced ratio of heat exchange and pressure drop of nanofluid. The cross-section aspect ratio of tube in the heat exchanger is another important factor to be taken into consideration.
