Particle agglomeration and properties of nanofluids

The present study demonstrates the importance of actual agglomerated particle size in the nanofluid and its effect on the fluid properties. The current work deals with 5 to 100 nm nanoparticles dispersed in fluids that resulted in 200 to 800 nm agglomerates. Particle size distributions for a range of nanofluids are measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Wet scanning electron microscopy method is used to visualize agglomerated particles in the dispersed state and to confirm particle size measurements by DLS. Our results show that a combination of base fluid chemistry and nanoparticle type is very important to create stable nanofluids. Several nanofluids resulted in stable state without any stabilizers, but in the long term had agglomerations of 250 % over a 2 month period. The effects of agglomeration on the thermal and rheological properties are presented for several types of nanoparticle and base fluid chemistries. Despite using nanodiamond particles with high thermal conductivity and a very sensitive laser flash thermal conductivity measurement technique, no anomalous increases of thermal conductivity was measured. The thermal conductivity increases of nanofluid with the particle concentration are as those predicted by Maxwell and Bruggeman models. The level of agglomeration of nanoparticles hardly influenced the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. The viscosity of nanofluids increased strongly as the concentration of particle is increased; it displays shear thinning and is a strong function of the level of agglomeration. The viscosity increase is significantly above of that predicted by the Einstein model even for very small concentration of nanoparticles.     

Experiments to Explore the Mechanisms of Heat Transfer in Nanocrystalline Alumina/Water Nanofluid under Laminar and Turbulent Flow Conditions

Abstract

Heat transfer characteristics of water-based nanocrystalline alumina (Al₂O₃) nanofluids flowing through a uniformly heated tube under a fully developed laminar and turbulent flow regime is investigated experimentally in the present work to explore the heat transfer mechanism in nanofluids. In a laminar flow, the increase in Nusselt number was attributed to the thermophysical properties of the nanofluid. The movement of nanoparticles, along with the turbulent eddies in the turbulent core region and diffusion mechanism, such as thermophoresis, in the laminar sublayer are believed to be the reasons for enhanced heat transfer in turbulent region. The compatibility of Al₂O₃/water nanofluids was also examined by monitoring its color.     

The mechanism of heat transfer in nanofluids: state of the art (<Emphasis Type="Italic">review</Emphasis>). Part 1. Synthesis and properties of nanofluids

Here is the review of experimental and theoretical results on the mechanism of heat transfer in nanofluids. A wide scope of problems related to the technology of nanofluid production, experimental equipment, and features of measurement methods is considered. Experimental data on heat conductivity of nanofluids with different concentrations, sizes, and material of nanoparticles are presented. Results on forced and free convection in laminar, and turbulent flows are analyzed. The available models of physical mechanisms of heat transfer intensification and suppression in nanofluids are presented. There are significant divergences in data of different researchers; possible reasons for this divergence are analyzed.     

Studies on Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>, CuO,and TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> water-based nanofluids: A comparative approach in laminar and turbulent flow

The Prandtl number, Reynolds number and Nusselt number are functions of thermophysical properties of nanofluids, and these numbers strongly influence the convective heat transfer coefficient. The thermophysical properties vary with volumetric concentration of nanofluids. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis was performed to evaluate the effects on the performance of nanofluids due to variations of density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and viscosity, which are functions of nanoparticle volume concentration. Three metallic oxides, aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), copper oxide (CuO), and titanium dioxide (TiO₂), dispersed in water as the base fluid were studied. A convenient figure of merit, known as the Mouromtseff number, is used as a base of comparisonfor laminar and turbulent flows. The results indicated that the considered nanofluids can successfully replace water in specific applications for a single-phase forced convection flow in a tube.     

Prediction of thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids by molecular dynamics simulation

Limitations of conventional heat transfer fluids in different industries because of their poor thermal conductivity made heat transfer improvement in working fluids was performing, as a new method of advanced heat transfer. Therefore, the dispersion solid particle idea in fluids, which has been started with mili- and micrometer particles, completed by using nanoparticles and today nanofluids have been found to provide a considerable heat transfer and viscosity enhancement in comparison to conventional fluids such as water, ethylene glycol, and engine oil. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation was used to predict thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids. Water was used as a base fluid. The simple point charge-extended (SPC/E) model was used for simulation of water and Ewald sum method for electrostatic interactions. Lennard–Jones potential for Van der Waals interactions, KTS potential for water and SiO₂ and Spor and Heinzinger correlation for water and Pt were used. The results were compared with experimental data. For investigation of the effect of temperature, simulation was done for three temperatures of 20, 30, and 50?C. The results showed that the ratio of thermal conductivity of nanofluid to base fluid and viscosity will decrease as the temperature increases. The effect of the concentration of nanoparticle was studied for three different concentrations, namely, 0.45, 1.85, and 4%. The thermal conductivity of nanofluid increases with increasing the concentration. Moreover, the effect of two nanoparticle sizes (i.e., 5 and 7 nm) on the thermal conductivity of nanofluid was investigated. It was shown that an increase in the size causes a decrease in the thermal conductivity. Finally, by replacing the SiO₂nanoparticle with a Pt nanoparticle in the nanofluid, it was observed that the kind of nanoparticle had not a considerable effect on increasing the thermal conductivity of nanofluid.     

Heat transfer enhancement by application of nano-powder

In this investigation, laminar flow heat transfer enhancement in circular tube utilizing different nanofluids including Al₂O₃ (20 nm), CuO (50 nm), and Cu (25 nm) nanoparticles in water was studied. Constant wall temperature was used as thermal boundary condition. The results indicate enhancement of heat transfer with increasing nanoparticle concentrations, but an optimum concentration for each nanofluid suspension can be found. Based on the experimental results, metallic nanoparticles show better enhancement of heat transfer coefficient in comparison with oxide particles. The promotions of heat transfer due to utilizing nanoparticles are higher than the theoretical correlation prediction.     

Convective Heat Transfer of a Cu/Water Nanofluid Flowing Through a Circular Tube

Abstract

Fluids in which nanometer-sized solid particles are suspended are called nanofluids. These fluids can be employed to increase the heat transfer rate in various applications. In this study, the convective heat transfer for Cu/water nanofluid through a circular tube was experimentally investigated. The flow was laminar, and constant wall temperature was used as thermal boundary condition. The Nusselt number of nanofluids for different nanoparticle concentrations, as well as various Peclet numbers, was obtained. Also, the rheological properties of the nanofluid for different volume fractions of nanoparticles were measured and compared with theoretical models. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced by increasing the nanoparticle concentrations as well as the Peclet number.     

On laminar-turbulent transition in nanofluid flows

The paper presents experimental data on the laminar-turbulent transition in the nanofluid flow in the pipe. The transition in the flows of such fluids is shown to have lower Reynolds numbers than in the base fluid. The degree of the flow destabilization increases with an increase in concentration of nanoparticles and a decrease in their size. On the other hand, in the turbulent flow regime, the presence of particles in the flow leads to the suppression of smallscale turbulent fluctuations. The correlation of the measured viscosity coefficient of considered nanofluids is presented.     

Investigation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer of a Novel Tio2–Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Water-Based Nanofluid

The current study was conducted to investigate the convective heat transfer coefficient of a novel TiO₂–CNT hybrid nanofluid through the shell-and-tube heat exchanger under a laminar flow and the effects of temperature and mass fraction on it. TiO₂–CNT hybrid nanofluids were prepared using a new and modified hydrolysis technique. The thermal conductivity of the TiO₂–CNT hybrid nanofluid and other thermo-physical properties were assessed. Results indicate that the effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient of the base fluid was influenced significantly and increased by the 0.2 wt% of this novel hybrid nanofluid in distilled water.     

Overview of Hybrid Nanofluids Development and Benefits

Conventional fluids have poor heat transfer properties, but their vast applications in power generation, chemical processes, heating and cooling processes, electronics and other microsized applications make the reprocessing of those thermofluids to have better heat transfer properties quite essential. Recently, it has been shown that the addition of solid nanoparticles to various fluids can increase the thermal conductivity and can influence the viscosity of the suspensions by tens of percent. Thermophysical properties of nanofluids were shown dependent on the particle material, shape, size, concentration, the type of the base fluid, and other additives. In spite of some inconsistency in the reported results and insufficient understanding of the mechanism of the heat transfer in nanofluids, it has been emerged as a promising heat transfer fluid. In the continuation of nanofluids research, the researchers have also tried to use hybrid nanofluid recently, which is engineered by suspending dissimilar nanoparticles either in mixture or composite form. The idea of using hybrid nanofluids is to further improve the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics by trade-off between advantages and disadvantages of individual suspension, attributed to good aspect ratio, better thermal network and synergistic effect of nanomaterials. As a conclusion, the hybrid nanofluids containing composite nanoparticles yield significant enhancement of thermal conductivity. However, the long-term stability, production process, selection of suitable nanomaterials combination to get synergistic effect and cost of nanofluids may be major challenges behind the practical applications.     

Pumping power of nanofluids in a flowing system

Nanofluids have the potential to increase thermal conductivities and heat transfer coefficients compared to their base fluids. However, the addition of nanoparticles to a fluid also increases the viscosity and therefore increases the power required to pump the fluid through the system. When the benefit of the increased heat transfer is larger than the penalty of the increased pumping power, the nanofluid has the potential for commercial viability. The pumping power for nanofluids has been considered previously for flow in straight tubes. In this study, the pumping power was measured for nanofluids flowing in a complete system including straight tubing, elbows, and expansions. The objective was to determine the significance of two-phase flow effects on system performance. Two types of nanofluids were used in this study: a water-based nanofluid containing 2.0–8.0 vol% of 40-nm alumina nanoparticles, and a 50/50 ethylene glycol/water mixture-based nanofluid containing 2.2 vol% of 29-nm SiC nanoparticles. All experiments were performed in the turbulent flow region in the entire test system simulating features typically found in heat exchanger systems. Experimental results were compared to the pumping power calculated from a mathematical model of the system to evaluate the system effects. The pumping power results were also combined with the heat transfer enhancement to evaluate the viability of the two nanofluids.     

Experimental data on the dependence of the viscosity of water- and ethylene glycol-based nanofluids on the size and material of particles

The viscosities of all nanofluids considered are shown to be dependent on the size of nanoparticles. It has been established that the greater the nanofluid viscosity, the smaller the size of particles. The measurements carried out in this study make it possible for the first time to fix experimentally the fact of the dependence of the viscosity of nanofluids on the particle material.     

抛物槽式太阳能集热器内合成油基纳米流体传热特性的数值模拟

对Al₂O₃-合成油纳米流体在槽式太阳能集热管内的传热特性进行流体动力学数值模拟,重点考察纳米流体导热系数模型的影响。通过与管内Nusselt数半经验模型的预测结果对比,表明使用考虑布朗运动的纳米流体导热系数模型可较好地预测集热管内传热特性。研究表明纳米颗粒与流体基液的相对运动具有促进集热管内传热的作用。最后,定量研究纳米颗粒添加量对提高基础流体平均传热系数的影响,显示纳米流体在太阳能集热器中具有巨大应用潜力。     

基于基液连续假设的大体系Cu-H2O纳米流体输运特性的模拟研究

分子动力学模拟是研究纳米流体的输运特性的重要手段, 但计算量庞大. 为研究能体现流动传热过程的大体系纳米流体的输运特性, 本文对基液采用连续介质假设, 将基液的势能拟合在纳米团簇的势能中, 大幅度减小了计算量, 使得大体系输运特性的模拟成为可能, 且模拟结果与多组实验结果吻合较好. 采用此方法模拟研究了速度梯度剪切对Cu-H₂O纳米流体颗粒聚集过程和聚集特性的影响, 进而对Cu-H₂O纳米流体在流动传热过程中的热导率和黏度进行了模拟计算, 定量揭示了宏观流动传热过程中不同的速度梯度、速度、平均温度和温度梯度对于Cu-H₂O纳米流体热导率和黏度的影响.     

Simulation of the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid with small particles by molecular dynamics methods

The thermal conductivity of nanoliquids has been simulated by molecular dynamics method. We consider nanofluids based on argon with aluminum and zinc particles with sizes of 1–4 nm. The volume concentration of nanoparticles is varied from 1 to 5%. The dependence of the thermal conductivity on the volume concentration of nanoparticles has been analyzed. It has been shown that the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid cannot be described by classical theories. In particular, it depends on the particle size and increases with it. However, it has been established that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with small particles can even be lower than that of the carrier fluid. The behavior of the correlation functions responsible for the thermal conductivity has been studied systematically, and the reason for the increase in the thermal conductivity of nanofluid has been explained qualitatively.     

纳米流体对流换热的实验研究

建立了测量纳米流体对流换热系数的实验系统,测量了不同粒子体积份额的水-Cu纳米流体在层流与湍流状态下的管内对流换热系数,实验结果表明,在液体中添加纳米粒子增大了液体的管内对流换热系数,粒子的体积份额是影响纳米流体对流换热系数的因素之一。综合考虑影响纳米流体对流换热的多种因素,提出了计算纳米流体对流换热系数的关联式。     

Influence of pH on Nanofluids' Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity

Aiming at the dispersion stability of nanopartieles regarded as the guide of heat transfer enhancement, we investigate the viscosity and the thermal conductivity of Cu and Al2O3 nanoparticles in water under different pH values. The results show that there exists an optimal pH value for the lowest viscosity and the highest thermal conductivity, and that at the optimal pH value the nanofluids containing a small amount of nanoparticles have noticeably higher thermal conductivity than that of the base fluid without nanoparticles. For the two nanofluids the enhancements of thermal conductivity are observed up to 13% （Al2O3-water） or 15% （Cu-water） at 0.4 wt%, respectively. Therefore, adjusting the pH values is suggested to improve the stability and the thermal conductivity for practical applications of nanofluid.     

Intriguingly high convective heat transfer enhancement of nanofluid coolants in laminar flows

We reported on investigation of the convective heat transfer enhancement of nanofluids as coolants in laminar flows inside a circular copper tube with constant wall temperature. Nanofluids containing Al₂O₃, ZnO, TiO₂, and MgO nanoparticles were prepared with a mixture of 55 vol.% distilled water and 45 vol.% ethylene glycol as base fluid. It was found that the heat transfer behaviors of the nanofluids were highly depended on the volume fraction, average size, species of the suspended nanoparticles and the flow conditions. MgO, Al₂O₃, and ZnO nanofluids exhibited superior enhancements of heat transfer coefficient, with the highest enhancement up to 252% at a Reynolds number of 1000 for MgO nanofluid. Our results demonstrated that these oxide nanofluids might be promising alternatives for conventional coolants.     

Effect of Nanoparticles on Thermal Properties Enhancement in Different Oils – A Review

The development of stable dispersion of nanoparticles in different oils is gaining momentum for close circuit applications as most of the mineral oils used are not very good thermal conductors. The enhancement of thermal conductivity with optimum enhancement of viscosity of oil with nanoparticles poses a serious challenge for use of such fluids in cooling. Transformer oil, mineral oil, silicon oil, hydrocarbon fuels, biodiesel, and some organic solutions have been used as the base fluids for studying the effect of nanoparticles for improving thermal efficiency. Innovative heat transfer fluids are produced by suspending metallic or nonmetallic nanometer-sized solid particles. Although a large number of sources are available on water-based nanofluids, the number of such reports on oil-based nanofluids is rather limited. The aim of this article is to summarize recent developments on the preparation methods of nanofluids based on oil, its stability, thermal conductivity enhancement, nanoparticle effect on viscosity, heat transfer characteristics, breakdown voltage, dielectric properties, and applications of such nanofluids.