EXPERIMENTAL HEAT TRANSFER STUDIES ON COPPER NANOFLUIDS IN A PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER

The objective of the present work is to study the influence of copper nanoparticle concentration on heat transfer performance of a mixed base fluid. In the present study, the performance of copper nanoparticles in ethylene glycol (eg) + propylene glycol (pg) + water (W) base fluid was analyzed in the chevron-type plate heat exchanger. The sol-gel method was used to prepare copper nanoparticles (100 nm), dispersed in two different mixed base fluids of volume fractions 5%EG + 5%PG + 90%W and 15%EG + 5%PG + 80%W Experiments were performed by varying the nanoparticle concentration from 0.2 to 1.0 vol. %. Three different hot fluid inlet temperatures were used (55, 65 and 75 degrees C). It is revealed from the study that the rate of heat transfer increased significantly with the mixed base fluid. Result shows that at 75 degrees C, 9 and 14.9% enhancement in the Nusselt number is obtained for 5%EG + 5%PG + 90%W and 15%EG + 5%PG + 80%W base fluid, respectively, for the nanoparticle concentration of 1%.