Heat transfer augmentation in a mini-channel using MWCNT-water nanofluid as coolant.

The modern electronic devices consist of a large number of components within a reserved space. Need to enhance the data handling capacity of computational devices is continuously rising. This makes thermal management of such electronic systems more important. They require an efficient cooling system for dissipation of heat generated. Conventionally air and deionized water is used as a cooling fluid. Water based cooling systems for gaming station and high-performance computing systems is commonly available. As liquid has its own limitation in thermal transport, addition of nanosized particles in liquid enhances its capacity. Good amount of work has been reported in literature which shows that the high thermal conductivity of solid particles gives rise to enhancement in heat transfer capacity of colloidal mixture of nanoparticles and fluid. They are classified as nanofluids. In this work, experimental investigation on cooling of electronic system with heat sink mini-channel has been carried out. The working fluid used is deionized water (DI) mixed with carbon nanotube (CNT) nanoparticles. CNT is known to poses high thermal conductivity. The volume fraction of CNT in DI is varied. Constant heat flux is supplied to mini-channel from bottom using a peltier heater. Effect of various coolant's flow rates on its thermal performance is observed. Influence of various volume fraction of nanoparticles, heat fluxes has been also reported. The temperatures at inlet, outlet and four passes of mini-channel are calculated at different flow rates and power supply for both CNT-DI water nanofluid and distilled water. On increasing the Reynolds number, expected heat dissipation augmentation occurs. Furthermore, it is observed that for nanofluid the temperature difference is increased between outlet and inlet. The improvement in thermal performance utilizing nanofluid as coolant instead of distilled water was noticed. High Nusselt number is obtained as compared to distilled water. Experimental results show enhancement in heat transfer coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]