I.M. Shahrul

Effectiveness Study of a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Operated with Nanofluids at Different Mass Flow Rates

Several challenging issues, such as global warming, greenhouse effect, fuel security, and the high price of energy, motivate people to think about energy savings. Energy can be saved by effectively using available materials and facilities. Heat exchangers play a significant part in the field of energy conservation, conversion, and recovery. Nanofluids can be used in the heat exchangers to reduce global energy losses. Thermal performance of a shell and tube heat exchanger operated with nanofluids has been analytically investigated at different mass flow rates and compared with water as the base fluid. Suspensions of ZnO, CuO, Fe3O4, TiO2, and Al2O3 nanoparticles in water (W) at 0.03 volumetric fractions have been considered. It is found that, for a certain mass flow rate (50 kg/min) of tube side and shell side fluid, the highest heat transfer coefficient (h) belongs to Al2O3-Wnanofluid and the lowest to CuO-W nanofluid. However, maximum energy effectiveness (ϵ) improvement took place by 43% for ZnO-W nanofluid and minimum ϵ improvement that was around 31% happened for Al2O3-W nanofluid. Furthermore, this energy effectiveness also improved with the decrease of the mass flow rates of nanofluids and increasing the mass flow rates of the base fluid. However, changing the base fluids mass flow rate has a limited effect on this improvement of energy effectiveness. For example, a maximum overall heat transfer coefficient was found to vary from 18.31 to 18.35 W/m² · K for Al2O3-W nanofluid when changing the mass flow rate of nanofluid from 50 to 70 kg/min. On the other hand, with the same changes of hot water mass flow rates, a maximum overall heat transfer coefficient was obtained to shift from 18.31 to 22 W/m².K for the same nanofluid. Viscosity and specific heat of nanofluids are responsible for these phenomena. However, energy effectiveness of the shell and tube heat exchanger can be increased by using metal oxide nanofluids, and better performance can be achieved by maintaining higher mass flow rates of shell side fluid and lower mass flow rates for tube side fluid.

Nanofluids for Thermal Performance Improvement in Cooling of Electronic Device

Nanofluid is a promising coolant for high-heat dissipation electronics device or system. The effect of nanofluids as thermal performances on a rectangular shape microchannel heat sink (MCHS) is analytically studied. Al2O3, SiC, and CuO nanoparticles dispersing in water were considered for analysis. A steady, laminar, and incompressible flow with constant heat flux was assumed in the channel. Nanofluids with concentrations of 0.5 to 4.0 vol. % were analyzed at two different inlet velocities of 0.5 m/s and 3.0 m/s. The results showed that highest thermal conductivity enhancement was 12.45% by using SiC-water nanofluids. In the case of Al2O3-water and CuO-water nanofluids maximum improvement were 11.98% and 11.36%, respectively for 4.0 vol. % of nanoparticle concentration. Furthermore, nanofluids as a coolant instead of water showed a highest improve of heat flux 8.51% for water-CuO, and 6.44% and 5.60% increase for Al2O3-water and SiC-water, respectively. The maximum pumping power found 0.33 W at 3 m/s and 0.0091 W at 0.5 m/s for the same concentration of 4.0 vol. % for all of these nanofluids.

Global Effects of MWCNT-W Nanofluid in a Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger

Global warming and other problems can be reduced by effectively using the available materials and facilities. Heat exchangers play an important part of the field of energy conservation, conversion and recovery. Shell & tube heat exchangers are widely using in industrial processes and power plants. Suspension of small amounts of nanoparticles into the base fluid called nanofluid can reduce the global energy losses. Thermal conductivity of Multi Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT) is highest among the different nano materials [1]. Therefore, in this paper, the overall performance of a shell & tube heat exchanger has been analytically investigated by using MWCNT-W nanofluid with 0.02-0.1 vol. fractions of MWCNT and compared with water. Mathematical formula, specifications of heat exchanger and nanofluid properties were taken from the literatures to analyze the energy performance and other effects within the system. It is found that for certain mass flow rates of nanofluid and base fluid, the convective heat transfer coefficient increased around 4% to 17% compared to pure water, respectively for 0.02-0.1 vol. fractions of MWCNT in water. However, for constant vol. fractions of MWCNT, convective heat transfer coefficient of the above nanofluid negligibly changed for different mass flow rates. Furthermore, energy effectiveness of the heat exchanger also improved approximately by 3% to 14%, respectively. This energy effectiveness again improved with the decrease of the mass flow rates of nanofluids (tube side) and increase of the mass flow rates of base fluid (shell side). As energy effectiveness is increased by using MWCNT-W nanofluid, therefore, a significant amount of heat losses will be reduced. As a result, with the reduced heat emissions, global warming and greenhouse effects can be reduced by using MWCNT-W nanofluid as working fluid in shell & tube heat exchanger system.