EFFECT OF NANOFLUID ON HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF DOUBLE PIPE HEAT EXCHANGER: PART-I: EFFECT OF ALUMINUM OXIDE NANOFLUID

N. K. Chavda, Jay R. Patel, Hardik H. Patel, Atul P. Parmar

Abstract: A nanofluid is a mixture of nano sized particles of size up to 100 nm and a base fluid. Typical nanoparticles are made of metals, oxides or carbides, while base fluids may be water, ethylene glycol or oil. The effect of nanofluid to enhance the heat transfer rate in various heat exchangers is experimentally evaluated recently. The heat transfer enhancement using nanofluid mainly depends on type of nanoparticles, size of nanoparticles and concentration of nanoparticles in base fluid. In the present paper, an experimental investigation is carried out to determine the effect of various concentration of Al2O3 nano-dispersion mixed in water as base fluid on heat transfer characteristics of double pipe heat exchanger for parallel flow and counter flow arrangement. The volume concentrations of Al2O3 nanofluid prepared are 0.001 % to 0.01 %. The conclusion derived for the study is that overall heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in volume concentration of Al2O3 nano-dispersion compared to water up to volume concentration of 0.008 % and then decreases.

Keywords: Nanofluid, Heat Transfer Characteristics, Double Pipe Heat Exchagner, Al2O3 Nano-dispersion

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0312006