International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Nano Fluid a coolant for air finned heat exchanger: The Review
1
Ankush D.Tharkar, 2Shailendra M.Lawankar
1,2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, GCOE, Amravati, Maharashtra, India
Email: 1ankush.tharkar@gmail.com, 2l_sm@ red iffma il.com

increasing heat dissiapation is to increase the available

Abstract— Water and ethylene glycol as conventional
coolants have been widely used in an automotive car
radiator for many years. These heat transfer fluids offer
low thermal conductivity. With the advancement of
nanotechnology, the new generation of heat transfer fluids
called, ―nanofluids‖ have been developed and researchers
found that these fluids offer higher thermal conductivity
compared to that of conventional coolants. Nanofluid, is a
type of of new engineering material consisting of
nanometer-sized suspended particle in base fluids, has
concentrated many of researcher and investigators for its
superior thermal properties and many potential
applications. In this paper (review), we see thermophysical
properties and different types of nanofluid reported by
some of researcher. Nanofluids are differentiated as
metallic and nonmetallic nanoparticles according to
material type since different nanoparticles need their own
stability method. various nanoparticle types with different
base fluids are invented and they are studied. The main aim
of this review paper is to summarize the use of modified
coolant for heat exchanger by using nano fluid along with
their properties.
Index Terms— Nano Nanoparticle, Nano fluid, Thermo
physical properties.
I. INTRODUCTION
The thrust on automobile manufacturers for developing
compact and energy efficient cars warrants a thorough
optimization process in the design of all engine
components, including radiators. For efficiency, heat
exchangers i.e. radiator are designed to maximize the
surface area of the wall between the two fluids, while
minimizing resistance to fluid flow through the
exchanger. However, traditional approach of increasing
the cooling rate by increasing surface area has already
reached to their limit. In addition, heat transfer fluids at
air and fluid side such as water and ethylene glycol
exhibit very low thermal conductivity. As a result there is
a need for new and innovative heat transfer fluids for
improving heat transfer rate in an automotive car radiator.
. Transfer of waste heat from various engine, industry etc.
during various process is one of the most significant
scientific challenges which applies to many diverse
productions, including microelectronics, transportation
and manufacturing. Technological developments In
various field such as microelectronic devices operating at
high speeds, higher-power engines, and brighter optical
devices are driving increased thermal loads, requiring
advances in cooling. The traditional method for
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
12
surface area available for exchanging heat and to use a
heat conductive fluid which having better thermophysical
properties to increase capacity for carrying heat.
However, this approach involves an undesirable increase
in the size of a heat transfer system; therefore, there is an
urgent requirement for new and highly conductive fluid
with improved performance. The innovative concept of
suspended nano sized particle in fluid called nano fluid
has been proposed which reduces the load on heat
transfer system without increasing the size and weight of
the system. About a ten year ago, some investigator
reported the heat transfer and flow characteristics of the
different nanofluids, namely: Trisaksri and Wongwises ,
Beck , Wang and Mujumdar , Kakaç and
Pramuanjaroenkij , Godson et al., Li et al. Wen et al. ,
and Leong et al. . However, prior to use nanofluids for
heat transfer, significant knowledge about their
thermophysical properties is required, especially their
thermal conductivity and viscosity. Many researchers
have measured the thermophysical properties of
nanofluids such thermal conductivity, specific heat,
overall heat transfer coefficient while many others used
well-known predictive correlations. .There are also
various major advantages from nano fluid testing
namely: better long term stability and thermal
conductivity compared to millimeter or even micrometer
sized particle suspensions and less pressure drop and
erosion particularly in microchannels. Though, there are
still major application prospects in advanced thermal
applications, they remain in the early stages of
development Their works have been both experimental
and theoretical. Nanofluids seem to be potential
replacement of conventional coolants in engine cooling
system. Recently there have been considerable research
findings highlighting superior heat transfer performances
of nanofluids. With these superior characteristics, the size
and weight of an automotive car radiator can be reduced
without affecting its heat transfer performance. This
translates into a better aerodynamic feature for design of
an automotive car frontal area. Coefficient of drag can be
minimized and fuel consumption efficiency can be
improved. Therefore, this paper summarize the use of the
nano fluid in the heat exchanger for increasing its
efficiency without affecting the size and weight of the
heat exchanger unit. Also here some major type of the
nano fluid are described below along with their method of
preparation.
ISSN (Print): 2319-3182, Volume -4, Issue-2, 2015
 International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

II. NANO FLUIDS Tiron ratio of 2.5:1. The prepared nanofluidswere found
to possess amaximumabsolute zeta potential of 30 mV,
Conventional fluids, such as refrigerants, water, engine which was considered sufficient to ensure colloidal
oil, ethylene glycol, etc. have poor heat transfer stability. In addition, the stability was also confirmed
performance and therefore high compactness and through visual observation. Lee et al. used in-house
effectiveness of heat transfer systems are necessary to prepared CuO nanofluids in one step and two step
achieve the required heat transfer. Among the efforts for methods. For the two step method, CuO/DI–water
enhancement of heat transfer the application of additives nanofluid was sonicated continuously for 6 h while the
to liquids is more noticeable. Recent advances in process of preparation of CuO nanofluids in the one step
nanotechnology have allowed development of a new method was carried out by pulsed laser ablation in
category of fluids termed nanofluids. Such fluids are liquids using a single-pulsed laser beam for 8 h. As , the
liquid suspensions containing particles that are size of spherical CuO nanoparticles of nanofluid
significantly smaller than 100 nm, and have a bulk solids fabricated by the one-step method is much smaller than
thermal conductivity higher than the base liquids that by the two-step method. It was found that the
.Nanofluids are formed by suspending metallic or dispersion stability of CuO/DI–water nanofluid
non-metallic oxide nanoparticles in traditional heat fabricated by the one-step method is much better than that
transfer fluids. These so called nanofluids display good prepared by the two-step method. Harikrishnan and
thermal properties compared with fluids conventionally Kalaiselvam synthesized CuO nanoparticles by a
used for heat transfer and fluids containing particles on precipitation method. The preparation process of
the micro meter scale . Nanofluids are the new window CuO–oleic acid nanofluids were performed using an
which was opened recently and it was confirmed by ultrasonic vibrator at a frequency of 40 kHz and the
several authors that these working fluid can enhance heat residing times of nanofluids in the vibratorwere varied for
transfer performance. different mass fractions and they were 30, 35, 40 and
Yu et al., reported that about 15-40% of heat transfer 45min for 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 wt.%, respectively. They
enhancement can be achieved by using various types of found that nanoparticles were stably dispersed and
nanofluids. With these superior characteristics, the size uniformly distributed in base fluid. It was reported that
and weight of heat exchanger can be reduced without CuO nanoparticles were not dissolved in oleic acid, but
affecting its heat transfer performance. Eastman et al. dissociative adsorption might exist between oleic acid
reported that the thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol and CuO nanoparticles. Kannadasan et al. produced CuO
nanofluids containing 0.3% volume fraction of copper nanoparticles by a chemical precipitation method; they
particles can be enhanced up to 40% compared to that of prepared CuO–water nanofluids using an ultrasonic bath
ethylene glycol basefluid. Hwang et al. found that (100W, 36 ± 3 kHz) for 4 h to get stable suspension. It
thermal conductivity of the nanofluids depends on the was observed that there was a very little settlement of
volume fraction of particles and thermal conductivity of nanoparticles even after 25 days. Fotukian and Esfahany
basefluid and particles. Thermal characteristics can be prepared CuO nanofluids by gradually adding
enhanced with increase of particles’ volume fraction, nanoparticles to distilled water while agitated in a flask.
temperature and particle size. It is observed that the The suspension was then vibrated for 10 h in an
smaller the particle size, the greater the effective thermal ultrasonic mixer. As a result, no precipitation was
conductivity of the nanofluids at the same volume observed after 5 h. Zeinali Heris] first used a mechanical
fraction. Contact surface area of particles with fluid and agitator for 6 h to disperse the nanoparticles, and then the
Brownian motion can be increased when smaller particles suspension was subjected to ultrasonication for about 2 h.
are used in the same volume fraction. This consequently No precipitation of nanoparticles was observed after 22 h.
increased thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Heresome
of the nano fluid are summarized along with their
different preparation method adopted by researcher.
A. Copper oxide-nanofluids
Nano sized particles of copper oxide have been applied to
catalysts, superconducting materials, thermoelectric
materials, sensing materials, glass, ceramics and other
fields. by a sol–gel route using cupric nitrate and sodium
hydroxide Rohini Priya et al. prepared CuO
nanoparticles. The synthesized particles were dispersed
Fig 1.Image of CuOnano particles
in bsed fluid such as water with the aid of ultrasonic
vibration treatment for about 6 h, followed by an addition B. Iron oxide-nano fluids
of tironas dispersant. The optimum ratio of CuO to
Iron oxides exist in many forms in nature, with magnetite
tironwas determined by studying the colloidal stability of
(Fe3O4),maghemite (γ-Fe2O3), and hematite (α-Fe2O3)
dispersions with different concentrations of surfactant.
being probably the most common. Li et al. prepared two
The minimum concentration of surfactant required one to
types of nanofluids. One was Fe3O4–watermagnetic
ensure that colloidal stability corresponded to a CuO:
fluid prepared by the chemical precipitation method in
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
ISSN (Print): 2319-3182, Volume -4, Issue-2, 2015
13
 International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
which the oleic acid was added as a dispersant. The
samples with different particle volume fractions were
obtained by diluting the original sample of the magnetic
fluid. Also, Fe–water magnetic fluid was prepared by the
direct mixing method. Fe nanoparticles were mixed with
deionized water and stabilized with sodium
dodecylbenzenesulfonate. In addition, the magnetic fluid
sample was vibrated for several hours in an ultrasonic
vibrator. They found that if the suitable percentage of
sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate is added, the
stabilization of the suspension can last from about several
hours to one week in the stationary state. Sundar et al.
adjusted the pH value of Fe3O4–water nanofluid to 3,
using a small amount of sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Then, the
mixture was sonicated for approximately 2 h. They
reported that a uniform dispersion was established by
measuring the densities of nanofluid at different locations
in the container. Asadzadeh et al. added the nanoparticles
to the base fluid in the presence of vigorous mechanical
agitation. Then, the suspension was sonicated for an hour
in the ultrasonic bath. No sedimentation was observed in
the 12 h subsequent to the nanofluid preparation.
Abareshi et al. synthesized magnetic nanoparticles of
hematite, α-Fe2O3 by a solvo thermal method using Fe
(NO3)3 as a starting material. The nanoparticles were
dispersed in glycerol using an ultrasonic processor at 20
kHz and 700 W for 30 min.Wei et al. synthesized Fe3O4
nanoparticles by coprecipitation. Oleic acid was added to
modify the nanoparticles. After 1 h, kerosene was added
to the mixture with slow stirring. The phase-transfer
process occurred spontaneously, and there was a distinct
phase interface between the aqueous solution and
kerosene. After removing the aqueous phase using a
pipette, the kerosenebased Fe3O4 nanofluid with volume
concentration 1% was obtained. It was shown that there is
no clear relation between the particle size and
ultrasonication time, indicating that the phasetransfer
method avoids the long time ultrasonication and
oxidation of Fe3O4 in the disperse process. Also, the
Fe3O4 nano particles modified by oleic acid have good
compatibilitywith kerosene, and the nanofluids were
stable. Sheikhbahai et al. dispersed Fe3O4 nano particles
in ethylene glycol under ultrasonic mixing for an hour.
Sonication was continued for another hour to get stable
nano fluid. The required amount of DI water was
gradually added to nanofluid under vigorous agitation in
a 30 min period just before each experiment. No
sedimentation was observed at the bottom or clear layer
at the top after 8 h. It can be seen that the nano particles
synthesized by chemical precipitation method can be well
dispersed by using only sonication for 2 h.
C. Aluminium nitride-nanofluids
Aluminum nitride (AIN) is one of the typical ceramics
that have special properties such as high thermal
conductivity (8–10 times that of Al2O3), low dielectric
coefficient (about 8.15), high electrical resistance,
corrosion & erosion resistance and lowdensity. Because
of these advantageous properties, it is used in various
engineering applications and has attracted the intense
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
ISSN (Print): 2319-3182, Volume -4, Issue-2, 2015
14
interest of researchers. Peng et al.were the first to
disperse AIN nanoparticles, produced by plasma arc in
the gas phase into ethanolwith castor oil as a dispersant to
improve suspension stability. The suspension was then
stirred with a high-speed magnetic stirrer. The resulting
suspension was placed in an ultrasonic homogenizer for
10 min. It was observed that the prepared sample can
remain stable for more than 2 weeks without settling. Yu
et al. prepared AIN–ethylene glycol and AIN–propylene
glycol nanofluids by stirring and continuous sonication
for 3 h, to ensure uniformdispersion of nanoparticles in
the base fluid. They found that the average particle sizes
for AIN–EG and AIN–PG nanofluids are 165 and 169
nm, respectively. Wozniak et al. suspended AIN
nanopowder in polypropylene glycol, and then the
suspensions were homogenized by using a magnetic
stirrer for 3 h. More concentrated AIN dispersions were
prepared using a laboratory dissolver, which had a
mechanically modulated dispersive disk. When all the
powder was added, the dispersions were stirred for 40
min at 3000 rpm. It was reported that the suspensions
were of high flow-ability and noticeable homogeneity. In
addition, the particles settled after 30 h, the sedimentation
rate was N90% and afterward it remained at the same
level. Although different surfactants and physical
treatments were used for the preparation of
AIN-nanofluids, only more than two weeks stable time of
nanofluids was reported. Thus, other preparation methods
are highly desired to prepare stable AIN-nanofluids.
Fig. 2. Average particle size as a function of
ultrasonification processing time for 1.0 vol.% Fe3O4
nanofluid
III. NANO FLUID’S THERMO PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES
By assuming that the nanoparticles are well dispersed
within the base fluid, i.e. the particle concentration can be
considered uniform throughout the system; the effective
thermophysical properties of the nanofluids at different
temperatures and concentrations can be evaluated using
some classical formulas as usually used for two phase
flow. In this paper, the following correlations are used to
calculate the density and the specific heat of CuO/water
and Fe2O3/water nanofluids:
 International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

pnf= φ pp+ (1- φ)pbf By assuming that the nanoparticles are well dispersed
within the base fluid, i.e. the particle concentration can be
𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 considered uniform throughout the system; the effective
Cpnf= (1-φ) ( )Cpbf + φ (𝐩 𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝)Cpp
𝐩 𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 thermophysical properties of the nanofluids at different
temperatures and concentrations can be evaluated using
The thermal conductivity of the Fe2O3/water nanofluids some classical formulas as usually used for two phase
is calculated using Hamilton and Crosser [30] model. The flow.
thermal conductivity, in which the ratio of conductivity
of the solid particles to base fluid is larger than 100 can be IV. CONCLUSION
expressed as follows: From this paper it is cocluded that the with increase in
demand of compact,smaller size,less bulky heat
kp + n−1 kbf −φ n−1 (kbf −kp ) exchanger, the conventional coolant must be replaced by
Knf = kbf
kp + n−1 kbf +φ (kbf −kp ) of a new category of fluids termed nanofluids which is
produced by the dispersion of metallic or nonmetallic
Almost all formulas for the calculation of nanofluids nanoparticles or nanofibers with a typical size of less than
viscosity derived from the pioneering work of Einstein], 100 nm in a base fluid.. From literature survey it is
which is based on the assumption of a linearly viscous observed that these fluids offer higher thermal
fluid containing dilute, suspended, spherical particles. conductivity compared to that of conventional coolants
The Einstein formula is: like ethyl glycol. Some of the Nano fluid copper oxide,
Iron Oxide, Aluminium Nitride are explain with different
µnf = µbf(1+ 2.5φ) preparation method. Various way of calculating
properties of the fluid are also mentioned in this review.
Here µnf is the viscosity of suspension; µbf is the viscosity Therefore, further research investigations are needed to
of base fluid. Einstein’s formula is found to be valid for comprehensively understand the stability of nanofluids
relatively low particle volume fractions f < 0.02. Beyond before evolving new energy efficient heat transfer fluids
this value, it underestimates the effective viscosity of the specific to applications. However, it should be noted that
mixture. The nanofluid flowing inside the tube transfers many challenges need to be identified and overcome for
heat to the outside air flowing in the air flow channel. The different applications. Nanofluid stability and production
air-side and the tube-side heat transfer rates can be cost are major factors that hinder the commercialization
calculated as: of nano fluids. By solving these challenges, it is expected
that nanofluids can make a substantial impact as coolant
in heat exchanging devices.
Qa = macpa(Tao-Tai)
REFERENCES
Qnf= mwcpw(Tnfi –Tnf o) [1] Vahid Delavari, Seyed Hassan Hashemabadi, “
CFD simulation of heat transfer enhancement of
where Qa and Qnf are the heat transfer rates at the air and Al2O3/water and Al2O3/ethylene glycol
nanofluid flows, respectively. The arithmetic average of nanofluids in a car radiator” Applied Thermal
the heat transfer rate is: Engineering 73 (2014) 378-388
[2] Hwa-Ming Nieh , Tun-Ping Teng b, Chao-Chieh
Qavg = 0.5(Qnf + Qa )
Yu, “Enhanced heat dissipation of a radiator using
oxide nano-coolant.” International Journal of
The performance of the heat exchangers is analyzed by Thermal Sciences 77 (2014) 252-261
the conventional ε-NTU technique and the effectiveness,
ε, is defined as: [3] Y. Vermahmoudia,S.M.
Qavg
Peyghambarzadeha,,S.H.Hashemabadib,M.
ε= Naraki ,”Experimental investigation on heat
m Cp min (Tnf −Ta i)
transfer performance of Fe2O3/water nanofluid in
The relationship of the effectiveness, the number of an air-finned heat exchanger” European Journal of
transfer unit (NTU), and the minimum heat capacity flow Mechanics B/Fluids 44 (2014) 32–41
rate ( mCp)min the air side could be
[4] M.M. Elias, I.M. Mahbubul, R. Saidur, M.R.
1 Sohel, I.M. Shahrul, S.S. Khaleduzzaman,
ε = C (1- e−(1−NTU ) ) S.Sadeghipour, ―Experimental investigation on
the thermo-physical properties of Al2O3
UA
NTU = mcp min
[5] nanoparticles suspended in car radiator coolant”
International Communications in Heat and Mass
mcp min Transfer 54 (2014) 48–53.
C= cp max

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
ISSN (Print): 2319-3182, Volume -4, Issue-2, 2015
15
 International Journal on Theoretical and Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (IJTARME)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

[6] S.M. Peyghambarzadeh , S.H. Hashemabadi b, M. performance of a wavy fin-and-flat tube

Naraki , Y. Vermahmoudi, “Experimental study
of overall heat transfer coefficient in the
application of dilute nanofluids in the car
[8]
radiator”. Applied Thermal Engineering 52 (2013)
8-16.
[7] Junqi Dong, Lin Su, Qian Chen, Weiwu Xu,
“Experimental study on thermalehydraulic
aluminum heat exchanger”. Applied Thermal
Engineering 51 (2013) 32-39.
Omer A. Alawi, Nor Azwadi Che Sidik , H.A.
Mohammed, S. Syahrullail, “Fluid flow and heat
transfer characteristics of nanofluids in heat pipes.
International Communications in Heat and Mass
Transfer 56 (2014) 50–62.



_______________________________________________________________________________________________
ISSN (Print): 2319-3182, Volume -4, Issue-2, 2015
16