Investigation Of Pool Boiling Heat Transfer With Nanofluids

This investigation conducts pool boiling experiments under saturated conditions (Tsat=60°C) using nanofluids as coolants. Four different nanofluids were tested including zinc oxide (ZnO)-water, aluminum oxide (Al2O3)-water, aluminum oxide (Al2O3)-water+ethylene glycol (ethylene glycol solution) and gold (Au)-water. At saturation (Tsat=60 °C), the pool boiling performance of Al2O3-water and ZnO-water nanofluids were similar. The maximum CHF enhancement as compared to predicted Zuber's [1] CHF evaluated at an equivalent saturation temperature is about 180% for Al2O3-water nanofluids and about 240% for ZnO-water nanofluids. In both cases, no degradation in the boiling heat transfer rate was observed for lower nanoparticle concentrations. The dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles in various ethylene glycol solutions is also found to enhance CHF by as much as ~130%. A significant difference in the diameter of individual grains/particles (27 ± 16.3 nm) and the volume weighted average diameter of particles in solution (155 ± 80 nm) indicates that the Al2O3-water nanofluids consist primarily of nanoparticle agglomerates. Gravimetric fractionation of the nanofluid produced nanofluids with particle/particle aggregate average diameters that ranged from 69 - 346 nm. Over the size range tested, there was no significant CHF dependence on the average particle diameter. Finally, pool boiling results with monodispersed Au-water nanofluids of 2 nm and 40 nm sizes revealed that the smaller particle size enhanced CHF while the larger particles decreased CHF.