Investigation on the thermal transport properties of ethylene glycol-based nanofluids containing copper nanoparticles

Stable ethylene glycol based copper nanofluids were prepared through a two-step method, using polyvinyl pyrrolidone as dispersant, which was vital for the long-term stability of nanofluids. The substantial thermal conductivity enhancements were seen for the obtained nanofluids. For ethylene glycol based copper nanofluids with 0.5 vol.% at 50 °C, the enhancement ratio was up to 46%. The thermal conductivities depended strongly on the temperature of fluid, and the enhancement ratios increased along with the increasing temperatures. Brownian motions of Cu nanoparticles would play the key role on determining the effects of the temperature on thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids. The measured apparent thermal conductivity showed the time-dependent characteristic within 15 min. It indicated that the measurement should be made after 15 min at least to obtain the true thermal conductivities of ethylene glycol based copper nanofluids.     

纳米流体对流传热的研究进展

将纳米颗粒加入到传统换热介质中形成的纳米流体是一种新型的强化传热介质。它不仅具有较高的单相对流传热系数,而且分散稳定,不容易磨损和堵塞管道。文中综述了纳米流体在对流条件下强化传热的实验研究进展及强化传热模型,并对实验结果和强化传热的机理及模型进行了简要分析。发现:纳米流体强化对流传热的效果与颗粒和基液的属性等有关;强化传热主要是由于导热系数的增加和纳米颗粒的运动及重新分布引起的物性变化等影响。同时提出了纳米流体对流传热研究中存在及有待改进的一些问题。     

Two-phase numerical model for thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer in nanofluids

Due to the numerous applications of nanofluids, investigating and understanding of thermophysical properties of nanofluids has currently become one of the core issues. Although numerous theoretical and numerical models have been developed by previous researchers to understand the mechanism of enhanced heat transfer in nanofluids; to the best of our knowledge these models were limited to the study of either thermal conductivity or convective heat transfer of nanofluids. We have developed a numerical model which can estimate the enhancement in both the thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer in nanofluids. It also aids in understanding the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement. The study reveals that the nanoparticle dispersion in fluid medium and nanoparticle heat transport phenomenon are equally important in enhancement of thermal conductivity. However, the enhancement in convective heat transfer was caused mainly due to the nanoparticle heat transport mechanism. Ability of this model to be able to understand the mechanism of convective heat transfer enhancement distinguishes the model from rest of the available numerical models.     

Surfactant-free dispersion of silver nanoparticles into MWCNT-aqueous nanofluids prepared by one-step technique and their thermal characteristics

This paper reports a significant enhancement in the thermal conductivity of silver-nanoparticle-based aqueous nanofluids with the addition of negligible amounts of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The present work was conducted using purified MWCNTs/water nanofluids prepared by a wet grinding method. Silver nanoparticles were dispersed into the MWCNT/water nanofluids via a one-step method using pulse power evaporation, which was observed to improve the dispersibility and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids. A particle sizing system (PSS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to confirm the size of silver nanoparticles in base fluids. The PSS measurement results reveal that the size of the silver nanoparticles was approximately 100 nm, which is in good agreement with the results obtained from TEM and SEM. The maximum absorbance (2.506 abs at a wavelength of 264 nm) and highest thermal conductivity enhancement (14.5% at 40 °C) were achieved by a fluid containing ‘0.05 wt% MWCNTs–3 wt% Ag’ composite.     

Investigation of thermal conductivity and rheological properties of nanofluids containing graphene nanoplatelets

In the present study, stable homogeneous graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) nanofluids were prepared without any surfactant by high-power ultrasonic (probe) dispersion of GNPs in distilled water. The concentrations of nanofluids were maintained at 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1 wt.% for three different specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m²/g. Transmission electron microscopy image shows that the suspensions are homogeneous and most of the materials have been well dispersed. The stability of nanofluid was investigated using a UV-visible spectrophotometer in a time span of 600 h, and zeta potential after dispersion had been investigated to elucidate its role on dispersion characteristics. The rheological properties of GNP nanofluids approach Newtonian and non-Newtonian behaviors where viscosity decreases linearly with the rise of temperature. The thermal conductivity results show that the dispersed nanoparticles can always enhance the thermal conductivity of the base fluid, and the highest enhancement was obtained to be 27.64% in the concentration of 0.1 wt.% of GNPs with a specific surface area of 750 m²/g. Electrical conductivity of the GNP nanofluids shows a significant enhancement by dispersion of GNPs in distilled water. This novel type of nanofluids shows outstanding potential for replacements as advanced heat transfer fluids in medium temperature applications including solar collectors and heat exchanger systems.     

Effect of alumina nanoparticles in the fluid on heat transfer in double-pipe heat exchanger system

This study was performed to investigate the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids made of several alumina nanoparticles and transformer oil which flow through a double pipe heat exchanger system in the laminar flow regime. The nanofluids exhibited a considerable increase of heat transfer coefficients. Although the thermal conductivity of alumina is not high, it is much higher than that of the base fluids. The nanofluids tested displayed good thermal properties. One of the possible reasons for the enhancement on heat transfer of nanofluids can be explained by the high concentration of nanoparticles in the thermal boundary layer at the wall side through the migration of nanoparticles. To understand the enhancement of heat transfer of nanofluid, an experimental correlation was proposed for an alumina-transformer oil nanofluid system.     

An experimental study on thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the use of nanofluids for enhancing thermal performance. It has been shown that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are capable of enhancing the thermal performance of conventional working liquids. Although much work has been devoted on the impact of CNT concentrations on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids, the effects of preparation methods on the stability, thermal conductivity and viscosity of CNT suspensions are not well understood. This study is focused on providing experimental data on the effects of ultrasonication, temperature and surfactant on the thermo-physical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanofluids. Three types of surfactants were used in the experiments, namely, gum arabic (GA), sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluid suspensions were measured at various temperatures. The results showed that the use of GA in the nanofluid leads to superior thermal conductivity compared to the use of SDBS and SDS. With distilled water as the base liquid, the samples were prepared with 0.5 wt.% MWCNTs and 0.25% GA and sonicated at various times. The results showed that the sonication time influences the thermal conductivity, viscosity and dispersion of nanofluids. The thermal conductivity of nanofluids was typically enhanced with an increase in temperature and sonication time. In the present study, the maximum thermal conductivity enhancement was found to be 22.31% (the ratio of 1.22) at temperature of 45°C and sonication time of 40 min. The viscosity of nanofluids exhibited non-Newtonian shear-thinning behaviour. It was found that the viscosity of MWCNT nanofluids increases to a maximum value at a sonication time of 7 min and subsequently decreases with a further increase in sonication time. The presented data clearly indicated that the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids are influenced by the sonication time. Image analysis was carried out using TEM in order to observe the dispersion characteristics of all samples. The findings revealed that the CNT agglomerates breakup with increasing sonication time. At high sonication times, all agglomerates disappear and the CNTs are fragmented and their mean length decreases.     

Experimental investigation of thermo-physical properties of platelet mesoporous SBA-15 silica particles dispersed in ethylene glycol and water mixture

This paper presents an experimental investigation of thermophysical properties of platelet mesoporous SBA-15 particles dispersed in 60:40 (v/v) ethylene glycol:water mixture. The effect of weight fraction of particles and temperature is studied on density, viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The maximum measured thermal conductivity enhancement reaches up to 22% for the nanofluids containing 5 wt% of SBA-15 at 60 °C. The SBA-15 nanofluids show Newtonian behavior in the tested temperature range. Also, the relative density increases between 0.4% and 2.2% when the weight percent of the nanoparticles varies between 1 and 5 at 60 °C. Structural and morphological characterization of synthesized SBA-15 have been carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms methods.     

水基石墨烯纳米流体在矩形小槽道内的流动换热特性

测试了水基石墨烯纳米流体的部分热物性,研究了不同浓度、雷诺数(Re)和加热功率条件下水基石墨烯纳米流体作为换热工质在设计的矩形结构小槽道内的对流换热性能。结果表明,层流状态(Re=500~2000)下,矩形槽道壁面温度随Re增大逐渐降低,随加热功率增大逐渐升高,与常规流体换热特性一致;在相同Re和换热功率条件下,随纳米流体浓度增大,壁温逐渐减小;水基石墨烯纳米流体的换热强度比基液去离子水提升较大,Re=2000、加热功率为210 W时,浓度为0.03wt%的水基石墨烯纳米流体的平均努塞尔数(Nu)为9.3,比基液水提升48.8%;受入口效应影响,沿槽道长度局部对流换热系数逐渐减小,最高可达25674.5 [W/(m2?℃)],较基液水最大可提高39.1%;Re=500~1400时,石墨烯纳米流体的流动换热强度随Re增大明显增强;由实验数据结合理论模型拟合了适用于石墨烯纳米流体对流换热强度的计算式,计算结果与实验结果最大相对误差不超过25%,平均相对误差仅为4.8%。     

Ultrasonication effects on thermal and rheological properties of carbon nanotube suspensions

The preparation of nanofluids is very important to their thermophysical properties. Nanofluids with the same nanoparticles and base fluids can behave differently due to different nanofluid preparation methods. The agglomerate sizes in nanofluids can significantly impact the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids and lead to a different heat transfer performance. Ultrasonication is a common way to break up agglomerates and promote dispersion of nanoparticles into base fluids. However, research reports of sonication effects on nanofluid properties are limited in the open literature. In this work, sonication effects on thermal conductivity and viscosity of carbon nanotubes (0.5 wt%) in an ethylene glycol-based nanofluid are investigated. The corresponding effects on the agglomerate sizes and the carbon nanotube lengths are observed. It is found that with an increased sonication time/energy, the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids increases nonlinearly, with the maximum enhancement of 23% at sonication time of 1,355 min. However, the viscosity of nanofluids increases to the maximum at sonication time of 40 min, then decreases, finally approaching the viscosity of the pure base fluid at a sonication time of 1,355 min. It is also observed that the sonication process not only reduces the agglomerate sizes but also decreases the length of carbon nanotubes. Over the current experimental range, the reduction in agglomerate size is more significant than the reduction of the carbon nanotube length. Hence, the maximum thermal conductivity enhancement and minimum viscosity increase are obtained using a lengthy sonication, which may have implications on application.     

Convective heat transfer of alumina nanofluids in laminar flows through a pipe at the thermal entrance regime

The convective heat transfer characteristics of aqueous alumina nanofluids were investigated experimentally under forced laminar tube flows. The particles had different shapes of cylinders, bricks and blades, and particle loading was between 0?C5 volume%. The nanofluids were characterized rheologically, and the heat transfer system was validated by using water without particles. In calculating Nusselt and Peclet numbers to assess heat transfer enhancement of nanofluids, physical properties of water were used so as not to exaggerate the amount of heat transfer. It was found that heat transfer coefficients of nanofluids are almost the same or a little smaller than that of water. The heat transfer coefficient can be reduced by the lowering the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid under shearing conditions and particle depletion by the cluster migration from the wall to the tube center. The reduction in thermophysical properties also contributes to the reduction in heat transfer coefficient. It has been concluded that nanofluids from metal particles with appropriate stabilizing agents can satisfy the requirements to be a practically usable nanofluid.     

Intensification of convective heat transfer in water/ethylene glycol based nanofluids containing TiO2 nanoparticles

This paper presents a study of heat transfer performance of water, ethylene glycol (EG) and their mixtures of varying compositions and comparison thereof. The present work demonstrates the enhancement in convective heat transfer in nanofluids. The nanofluids were prepared by adding TiO₂ nanoparticles (having a particle size below 100 nm) in a base fluid. A binary mixture of EG (40%) and water (60%) was used as a base fluid. Nanofluids with varied volume fraction between 0 and 0.5 (volume fraction of TiO₂ nanoparticles) were considered in the present study. The experimental setup used was consisting of a test section that includes 750 mm long copper pipe with 8 mm inner diameter and a heater. The test section was covered with an insulation layer to minimize the heat losses. Temperature measurement was done with thermocouples. The experiments were conducted to study the effects of solid volume fraction, nanofluid flow rate and the inlet temperature on the heat transfer performance of the nanofluids. The results show an enhancement in heat transfer coefficient with increased volume fraction of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The maximum enhancement of 105% in heat transfer coefficient was observed for the nanofluid with solid volume fraction of 0.5.     

不同磁场作用下Fe3O4/water纳米流体层流流动对流传热系数的实验研究

对体积分数为3%的Fe₃O₄/water纳米流体在不同温度、不同磁场大小和方向的均匀磁场和梯度磁场作用下的对流换热进行了详细的实验研究。首先,开展了纳米流体能量方程的量纲1分析,讨论了纳米流体强化换热的机理。发现磁性纳米粒子所受到的磁力远远大于布朗运动力。实验测试结果与量纲1分析相吻合,在垂直均匀磁场作用下,纳米流体层流流动的平均对流传热系数提高了5.2%;在垂直梯度磁场作用下,平均对流传热系数提高了9.2%。而在水平均匀磁场作用下,纳米流体平均对流传热系数下降了4.8%。另外,随着温度的升高,对流传热系数均逐渐升高。     

Experimental investigation of the thermal transport properties of a carbon nanohybrid dispersed nanofluid

A hybrid nanostructure consisting of 1D carbon nanotubes and 2D graphene was successfully synthesized. Nanofluids were made by dispersing the hybrid nanostructure in deionized (DI) water and ethylene glycol (EG) separately, without any surfactant. Later the thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids were experimentally measured. Meanwhile, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD), and hydrogen exfoliated graphene (HEG) was synthesized by exfoliating graphite oxide in a hydrogen atmosphere. The hybrid nanostructure (f-MWNT+f-HEG) of functionalized MWNT (f-MWNT) and functionalized HEG (f-HEG) was prepared by a post mixing technique, and the sample was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Thermal conductivity of the nanofluids was measured for different volume fractions of f-MWNT+f-HEG at different temperatures. The hybrid nanostructure dispersed in the DI water based nanofluid shows a thermal conductivity enhancement of 20% for a volume fraction of 0.05%. Similarly, for a Reynolds number of 15,500, the enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient is about 289% for a 0.01% volume fraction of f-MWNT+f-HEG.     

二氧化铈/水基纳米流体核沸腾传热特性

对CeO₂纳米流体进行了池沸腾传热特性研究,考察了CeO₂/水基纳米流体的热导率,静态接触角以及沸腾后表面沉积情况对沸腾传热的影响。结果表明,CeO₂纳米流体可提高沸腾传热系数,且纳米流体最佳质量分数为0.05％,其沸腾传热系数较去离子水提高36%。热导率以及接触角随纳米流体质量分数的增加而增加,在本实验范围内,热导率最大增加1%;而纳米流体接触角从50.5°增加到92.9°;表面沉积随纳米流体的质量分数增加越来越明显,去离子水在沉积表面的接触角发生较大变化（51.4°~134.4°）。纳米流体的热导率影响可忽略不计;而接触角和沸腾表面颗粒沉积对纳米流体的强化传热作用影响较大。     

基于尿素/氯化胆碱低共熔溶剂体系纳米流体制备及其热物性研究

随着电子工业的快速发展,传统换热工质由于其较低的热导率已无法满足越来越高的换热需求。另一方面,传统的换热工质受限其相对较窄的液程范围而无法使用于复杂的温况或特殊的工作条件。低共熔溶剂（DESs）具有与离子液体相似的低饱和蒸气压、高沸点及强稳定性等优势,在传热领域具有巨大的潜力。制备了以尿素/氯化胆碱低共熔溶剂体系为基液,石墨烯、Al₂O₃、TiO₂三种纳米粒子填充的纳米流体,研究了黏度、热导率等热物性与纳米粒子和基液组成之间的关系,并系统地研究了纳米粒子结构对其稳定性的影响。实验结果表明,纳米粒子的填充会在一定程度上增加基液的黏度,其中石墨烯填充的纳米流体的黏度增加最大。此外,石墨烯能显著提高DESs的导热性能,其中6%（质量）石墨烯纳米流体热导率相比基液可增加29.0%。     

氧化铝有机纳米流体的流动传热基础特性

以氧化铝为纳米粒子、丙二醇和水为基础液体制备了氧化铝有机纳米流体,分别测量了它的沸点、热导率、比热容和黏度。以1％～5％（体积分数）的氧化铝纳米流体作为冷介质,测试了在车用机油冷却器中的传热系数和流动阻力。试验结果表明,纳米粒子能够显著强化基础液体在机油冷却器中的换热能力,粒子体积分数和流体温度是影响纳米流体热物性的重要因素。氧化铝纳米流体的沸点高于120℃,比热容随体积分数增加而降低,热导率、黏度和在机油冷却器中的传热系数均随粒子体积分数的增加而提高。在试验Ⅱ中,5％（体积分数）纳米流体的平均传热系数比基础液体提高了124.56％,而流动阻力增幅较小。     

粒径混合比对Al2O3/水纳米流体传热性能影响及评价

采用两步法制备体积分数为0.5%和1.0%的Al₂O₃/水纳米流体，研究20nm和50nm Al₂O₃纳米粒子的混合比对热导率和黏度的影响，并用c _μ/c _λ和Mo数来评价其综合传热效果，判断是否适用于实际传热过程。实验结果表明，有效热导率和相对黏度受团聚体尺寸影响较大。在体积分数为1.0%和混合比为50∶50时有效热导率的增幅最大，而混合比为（40∶60）～（60∶40）之间，相对黏度最低。这是因为此时团聚体的尺寸小，相应地沉淀速度慢，说明其分散性较好，形成局部粒子富集区，即“50nm固体粒子-20nm固体粒子-液体分子”的界面层，能产生高导热渗透通道及低热阻区，使热导率增大。在层流时，该纳米流体适用于实际传热过程中的范围为：体积分数0.5%和1.0%，混合比40∶60和50∶50，温度25～50℃。在紊流时，体积分数为0.5%和温度高于40℃时，混合比范围为(40∶60)～(60∶40)才适合使用此纳米流体。     

Surfactant-free ionic liquid-based nanofluids with remarkable thermal conductivity enhancement at very low loading of graphene

We report for the first time the preparation of highly stable graphene (GE)-based nanofluids with ionic liquid as base fluids (ionic liquid-based nanofluids (Ionanofluids)) without any surfactant and the subsequent investigations on their thermal conductivity, specific heat, and viscosity. The microstructure of the GE and MWCNTs are observed by transmission electron microscope. Thermal conductivity (TC), specific heat, and viscosity of these Ionanofluids were measured for different weight fractions and at varying temperatures, demonstrating that the Ionanofluids exhibit considerably higher TC and lower viscosity than that of their base fluids without significant specific heat decrease. An enhancement in TC by about 15.5% and 18.6% has been achieved at 25 °C and 65 °C respectively for the GE-based nanofluid at mass fraction of as low as 0.06%, which is larger than that of the MWCNT-dispersed nanofluid at the same loading. When the temperature rises, the TC and specific heat of the Ionanofluid increase clearly, while the viscosity decreases sharply. Moreover, the viscosity of the prepared Ionanofluids is lower than that of the base fluid. All these advantages of this new kind of Ionanofluid make it an ideal fluid for heat transfer and thermal storage.     

Enhancement of thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol based silver nanofluids

Nanofluid is a kind of new engineering material consisting of solid particles with size typically of 1-100 nm suspended in base fluids. Nanofluids offer excellent scope of enhancing thermal conductivity of common heat transfer fluids. In the present study, nanofluids are synthesized using silver nitrate (precursor), ethylene glycol (reducing agent), and poly(acrylamide-co-acrylicacid) (dispersion stabilizer). The different concentrations of silver nanofluid (1000-10,000 ppm) were synthesized. The silver particles present in colloidal phase have been characterized by EDX, XRD, UV-visible spectroscopy, Zeta potential and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The stability as well as thermal conductivity of these nanofluids was determined with a transient hot-wire apparatus, as a lapse of time after preparation. Typically, 10,000 ppm silver nanofluid exhibited rapid increase in the particle size with the passage of time. Thermal conductivity of silver nanofluids increased to 10, 16, and 18% as the amount of silver particles in nanofluid were 1000, 5000, and 10,000 ppm, respectively. After 30 days of preparation, the thermal conductivity of 1000 and 5000 ppm silver nanofluids decreased slightly from 10% and 15% to 9% and 14%, respectively. In addition, the thermal conductivity of 10,000 ppm nanofluid was decreased from 18% to 14% after 30 days. It is very interesting to report that the silver particles were aggregated in early stage of preparation (up to 15 days), which leads to the increase in the size of silver particles. However, no significant change was observed after 15 days which indicates the stability of silver nanofluids.