Application of a novel biological nanofluid in a liquid block heat sink for cooling of an electronic processor: Thermal performance and irreversibility considerations

Hydrothermal characteristics and entropy generation of a biological nanofluid containing silver nanoparticles are evaluated in a liquid block heat sink for cooling of an electronic processor. The liquid block under study has 20 channels, and its bottom surface is placed on the processor. Nanoparticles synthesized through plant extract technique from green tea leaves are employed. The degree of improvement in cooling, pumping power, thermal performance and irreversibilities are examined for case of using the nanofluid instead of water. By increasing Reynolds number and particle concentration, temperature distribution becomes more uniform in processor surface and heat transfer coefficient also increases. Furthermore, the surface temperature decreases with increasing concentration and Reynolds number, such that it reduces by 2.21 degrees C in case of using the nanofluid with concentration of 1% instead of water at Reynolds number of 500. Moreover, maximum temperature of the processor surface decreases by increasing Reynolds number and concentration and therefore, the possibility of hot spot formation diminishes. Results show that at a constant work consumption, the nanofluid also presents better cooling compared to water. Entropy generation analysis reveals that irreversibility in the whole liquid block decreases with increasing either concentration or Reynolds number, which is a positive result based on second law of thermodynamics. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.