HTHP Home • Issue Contents • Forthcoming Papers
Thermal performance of a single phase natural circulation mini loop working with nanofluid
Alpaslan Turgut and Serkan Doganay
This work presents an experimental investigation on the thermal performance of a single phase natural circulation loop working with nanofluid. The experiments were conducted first with de-ionized water (DIW) and then repeated for Al2O3-DIW nanofluids. Two types of Al2O3-DIW nanofluids with particle sizes 10 and 30 nm were used. A non-dimensionalized parameter, effectiveness factor was used, for the first time for a single phase natural circulation loop, to compare the influence of the particle concentration and size on the thermal performance of the system. By comparing the effectiveness factor, it is observed that the thermal performance of the system working with nanofluid is higher than the system working with water. Moreover, the thermal performance of the system enhances with the increase in particle concentration and this enhancement is more significant for the nanofluids with bigger particle size.
Keywords: Nanofluid, natural convection, alumina, nanoparticle, enhanced heat transfer, size effect