Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Heat transfer enhancement using Al2O3–water nanofluid

for an electronic liquid cooling system
a,*
Cong Tam Nguyen , Gilles Roy a, Christian Gauthier a, Nicolas Galanis b

a
Faculty of Engineering, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, Canada E1A 3E9
b
Faculty of Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Que., Canada J1K 2R1

Received 31 January 2006; accepted 28 September 2006

Available online 27 November 2006

Abstract

We have experimentally investigated the behaviour and heat transfer enhancement of a particular nanofluid, Al2O3 nanoparticle–
water mixture, flowing inside a closed system that is destined for cooling of microprocessors or other electronic components. Experimen-
tal data, obtained for turbulent flow regime, have clearly shown that the inclusion of nanoparticles into distilled water has produced a
considerable enhancement of the cooling block convective heat transfer coefficient. For a particular nanofluid with 6.8% particle volume
concentration, heat transfer coefficient has been found to increase as much as 40% compared to that of the base fluid. It has also been
found that an increase of particle concentration has produced a clear decrease of the heated component temperature. Experimental data
have clearly shown that nanofluid with 36 nm particle diameter provides higher heat transfer coefficients than the ones of nanofluid with
47 nm particle size.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Electronics cooling; Forced convection; Heat transfer augmentation; Heat transfer enhancement; Nanofluids; Nanoparticles; Experimental
study

1. Introduction cooling applications [4]. The term ‘nanofluid’ refers to a

Because of continually increasing power of microproces-
sors and other electronic components, a search for more
efficient heat dissipating system can constitute today a
rather challenging task. In spite of considerable researches
and efforts deployed, major improvements in heat transfer
capabilities, especially for cooling of high heat output elec-
tronics devices, have still suffered a certain lacking, see in
particular [1,2]. In recent years, advances in nanofabrica-
tion and processes have permitted the manufacturing of
solid particles down to the nanometre scale, which has con-
ducted to the creation of a new and rather special class of
fluids, termed ‘nanofluids’ [3]. These fluids can constitute,
in our opinion, very interesting alternatives for electronic
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 506 858 4347; fax: +1 506 858 4082.
E-mail address: nguyenc@umoncton.ca (C.T. Nguyen).
two-phase mixture usually composed of a continuous
liquid phase and dispersed nanoparticles in suspension
(i.e. extremely fine metallic particles of size below 50 nm).
Several nanoparticle dispersions of engineering interest
are readily available from various commercially sources
[5]. It has been known that nanofluid thermal conductivi-
ties are interestingly well higher than those of base fluids
(see in particular [6–10]). Some scarce experimental work
[11,12] and recent numerical studies by the authors
[13,14] have clearly confirmed the beneficial effect regarding
the heat transfer enhancement by using nanofluids in two
specific confined flow situations, namely the flow inside
uniformly heated tube and the radial flow between heated
disks. Such advantageous influence of nanofluids for cool-
ing of high heat output microprocessors has also been
numerically investigated as well [15], which appears to be
quite consistent with preliminary experimental data and
observations by Maré et al. [16] in their most recent study

1359-4311/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.09.028
1502 C.T. Nguyen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506

on the use of nanofluids in electronic cooling application.

As mentioned by Keblinski et al. [17], there is a clear lack
of data on nanofluids behaviour in real thermal appli-
cations; and to our knowledge, there exist no other ex-
haustive experimental data regarding the heat transfer
performance of nanofluids for cooling of microprocessors
or other electronic devices.
In the present work, we have experimentally investigated
the heat transfer behaviour of a typical liquid cooling sys-
tem, by replacing the base fluid, which is distilled water, by
a nanofluid that is composed of distilled water and Al2O3
nanoparticles for two different particle average diameters
and various volume concentrations. Some significant
results and experimental data and observations are pre-
sented and discussed.

2. Description of experimental liquid cooling system

The experimental liquid cooling system is relatively sim-
ple and consists of a closed fluidic circuit, Fig. 1, which is
mainly composed of a 5 l open reservoir and a 12 VDC
magnetically driven pump that ensures a forced recircu-
lation of liquid. A heated block, of overall dimensions
60 mm · 60 mm · 75 mm high, has an all-aluminium body
and is electrically heated by mean of a standard 100 W
nominal cartridge heater (Omega, USA), which simulates
heat generated by a microprocessor. On top of this heated
block is installed the so-called ‘water-block’, which is of
overall dimensions 60 mm · 60 mm · 15 mm high and has
an all-copper body jet-type water-block with an axial cen-
tral injection orifice and a pin-finned thick base plate
(Fig. 2). In order to minimise thermal contact resistance
between the heated block and the water-block, a thin film
of high thermal conductivity grease (Omegatherm 201 from
Omega, USA) was applied at their junction interface. The
Fig. 2. A view of the water-block showing its internal finned base-plate.
ensemble heated block-and-water-block has been, ther-
mally, very well insulated with respect to the surrounding
environment by using a thick layer of 50 mm of fiberglass
covering all around its exposed surface. A mini air-cooled
radiator is used to dissipate heat into ambient air and a col-
lecting–weighting station equipped with a three-way valve
has been used for measuring the mass flow rate of the cir-
culating liquid inside the system. It is interesting to mention
that most of major components of the liquid circuit have
come from a commercial and standard water-cooling kit,
which is destined for cooling of CPU microprocessors or
any other heated electronic devices (Swiftech, USA).
Several Type-K thermocouples (Omega, USA) were
installed at various locations in the liquid system in order
to monitor fluid temperatures: T1 and T2, respectively, at
the inlet and outlet of the water-block, T3 at the outlet

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the experimental liquid cooling system.

 C.T. Nguyen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506
of the mini radiator; while the ceramic-insulator-type ther-
mocouple T4, precisely mounted inside a hole of the alu-
minium block, was especially chosen to measure the
junction temperature between the heated block and the
water-block. Two other Type-K thermocouples have been
also used to monitor fluid temperature in the reservoir as
well as ambient air temperature in the local. All used ther-
mocouples were thoroughly calibrated by using a constant
temperature water bath, and their accuracy has been esti-
mated to be ±0.2 K. A multi-channel digital indicator
has been used to display all readings from the thermo-
couples.
In order to precisely evaluate the electric power that is
supplied to the cartridge heater and so the heat supplied
to the aluminium heated block, both the AC voltage and
electric current have constantly been monitored during
the tests. It has been found that the accuracy of the com-
puted electric power was estimated to be ±3.5%. Regarding
the heat losses from the heated-block-and-water-block
ensemble towards ambient air, the temperature drop across
the insulating layer was also monitored during experi-
ments; and the corresponding heat loss can then be easily
estimated, which has been found to be negligible as it did
not, so far, exceed 1.5 W, even for experiments where
relatively high temperatures of the heated block were
encountered. Finally, with regards to the mass flow rate
measurement, we have adopted, in this study, the conven-
tional stop-watch-and-weighting technique, using a good
accuracy digital balance and chronometer, respectively
±0.1 g and ±0.01 s. The maximum variation of the mass
flow rate as determined by such simple technique has been
estimated to be ±5%, which appears very reasonable in
conjunction with experimental uncertainties.
2.1. Thermal properties of Al2O3–water nanofluid
By assuming that Al2O3 nanoparticles (qp = 3600 kg m3
and Cp = 773 J/kg K) are well mixed within the base fluids
(distilled water) i.e. the particle concentration may be con-
sidered as uniform, the effective thermal properties of the
resulting nanofluid can then be determined by using formu-
las already known for a classical two-phase mixture
[11,18,13]. In particular, for nanofluid with 47 nm particle-
size, thermal conductivity for given temperature and particle
volume concentration has been evaluated based on some
recent data from our laboratory [20]. On the other hand,
for 36 nm particle-size nanofluid, the recent empirical model
proposed by Chon et al. [8] has been employed. Finally,
regarding the thermal properties of distilled water, they have
been evaluated using classical formulas published in stan-
dard textbooks (see for example [19]).
2.2. Experimental procedure and data processing
After being carefully assembled, the experimental setup
was first thoroughly checked for possible leaks from vari-
ous connexions in piping system; some corrections were
1503
then performed accordingly. The system was used to per-
form nearly fifty tests using distilled water and Al2O3–
water nanofluid with three different particle volume con-
centrations, namely 1%, 3.1% and 6.8%. It is interesting
to mention that the Al2O3–water nanofluid, with particle
mean-diameter of 36 nm, has been purchased readily pre-
pared and mixed from a commercial source (Nanophase
Technologies, USA). In order to produce other solutions
with particular particle fractions from the originally deliv-
ered mixture, which was nearly at 22% of particle volume
concentration, a proper diluting process with distilled
water, followed by a vigorous mechanical stirring action,
was always required. It should be noted that because of dis-
persants used by the manufacturer, the stability of particle
suspension within water has been found to be good, even
after a relatively long resting period say several weeks to
months, for which a vigorous stirring was normally suffi-
cient to properly re-establish particle suspension. From
the collected data of temperatures and mass flow rates,
the convective heat transfer coefficient of the water-block,
hw-block (W/m2 K), can easily be determined based on the
heat balance equation of the latter, which is written as
follows:
qelectric ¼ mC p ðT 2  T 1 Þ ¼ hw-block AðT m;base  T m;f Þ ð1Þ
where qelectric is the total electric input power, W; m is the
mass flow rate, kg/s; T1 and T2 are, respectively, fluid tem-
peratures at inlet and outlet of the water-block, K or C; Cp
is fluid specific heat, J/kg K; A is the total augmented sur-
face area of base plate i.e. its nominal surface area plus fins
area, A  0.01256 m2; Tm,base is the mean temperature of
the base plate given by readings from the junction thermo-
couple T4; Tm,f is the averaged temperature of liquid tra-
versing the water-block, Tm,f = (T1 + T2)/2; all fluid
properties, for water as well as for nanofluids, have been
computed at Tm,f. The experimental uncertainty has been
estimated to be ±5.5% for values of heat transfer coefficient
hw-block.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of nanofluid on temperature of the heated block
Fig. 3 shows, at first, the measured data as obtained for
the heated block average temperature, Tm,block (note that
Tm,block  Tm,base), as function of mass flow rate, m. It is
important to mention that from a practical viewpoint, for
every electronic system such as the ones in a PC for exam-
ple, such temperature of microprocessors or any other
heated components represents an important operating var-
iable, which can give a good indication of the system real-
time status. One can clearly observe that the temperature
Tm,block has considerably decreased with an augmentation
of particle volume concentration. Thus, for a given mass
flow rate, m = 0.06 kg/s for example, Tm,block has as
approximate values, 40.9 C, 39.3 C, 38.7 C and
37.3 C, respectively for water and nanofluids with 1%,
1504 C.T. Nguyen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506

45 lar mass flow rate m = 0.07 kg/s for example, the computed
44 values for hw-block are, respectively, 595 W/m2 C (distilled
43 water), 665 W/m2 C (1%), 700 W/m2 C (3.1%) and
825 W/m2 C (6.8%), thus an interesting enhancement of
Tm,block (Deg. C)

42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
Fig. 3. Influence of mass flow rate and particle concentration on Tm,block.
3.1% and 6.8% particle concentration. Such a decrease of
Tm,block appears to be almost constant for the range of
mass flow rates considered. On the other hand, for a given
particle concentration, Tm,block has clearly decreased with
an augmentation of mass flow rate. Such a decrease,
although appears less pronounced than that due to particle
concentration, is due to the fact that increasing the mass
flow rate would necessarily result, in principle, in an aug-
mentation of the forced convection heat transfer coeffi-
cient. The data shown in Fig. 3 have, indeed, confirmed
an advantageous influence on the heated block temperature
due to the use of nanofluids.
3.2. Heat transfer enhancement provided by nanofluids
The heat transfer enhancement due to the use of nano-
fluids can be better scrutinized in Fig. 4 that shows results
for the water-block convective heat transfer coefficient, hw-
block, as function of mass flow rate and particle concentra-
tion. It is very interesting to observe, as one may expect,
that the inclusion of nanoparticles into water has greatly
enhanced the heat transfer rate of the water-block. In spite
of a dispersion that is obviously due to experimental uncer-
tainties, we have clearly observed that the heat transfer
coefficient hw-block has considerably increased with an aug-
mentation of particle concentration. Thus, for the particu-
Nano 1%
approximately 12%, 18% and 38%, respectively, for nano-
Nano 3.1%
fluids with 1%, 3.1% and 6.8% particle concentrations,
Nano 6.8%
while compared to the corresponding heat transfer rate
Distilled Water
using distilled water. A similar heat transfer enhancement
has also been found for lower mass flow rates; for m =
0.03 kg/s for example, hw-block has, as approximate values,
570 W/m2 C (water), 650 W/m2 C (1%), 675 W/m2 C
0.07 0.08 (3.1%) and 810 W/m2 C (6.8%), thus with respective
increases of nearly 14%, 18% and 42% compared to water.
One can clearly observe that the heat transfer coefficient
has also increased with an augmentation of liquid mass
flow rate, for the same reason mentioned earlier. It is
expected that a judicious combination of nanofluids use
and high flow rates would provide even higher heat transfer
rates. It should be mentioned that the flow regimes for the
tests performed can be qualified as ‘mildly turbulent’. One
may then expect that a use of nanofluids under strong tur-
bulent flow regime will provide more significant effect on
heat transfer [15]. Although there exist notable differences
due to geometries used between the real water-block in this
study and that previously considered in our recent numer-
ical study [15], it is very important to mention that similar
trends have been found regarding the augmentation of heat
transfer with respect to nanofluid particle volume concen-
tration as well as to liquid mass flow rate.
Fig. 5 shows results as obtained for the water-block con-
vective Nusselt number as function of the flow Reynolds
number and particle concentration; the dimensionless
parameters Nu and Re are defined as follows:
Re ¼ 4m=ðpDi lÞ ð2Þ
Nu ¼ hw-block Di =k ð3Þ
where Di is the inside diameter of inlet orifice, Di = 0.007 m
(Fig. 2); k and l are fluid (distilled water or nanofluid) ther-
mal conductivity and dynamic viscosity, both evaluated at
8.5

875 Nano 1%

825 7.5 Nano 3.1%

hw-block (W/m² K)

775 Nano 1%
Nu

Nano 6.8%
725 Nano 3.1%
Distilled Water
6.5
675 Nano 6.8%

625 Distilled
Water
575
5.5
525 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000
0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 Re
Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
Fig. 5. Influence of particle concentration and Reynolds number on
Fig. 4. Influence of mass flow rate and particle concentration on hw-block. water-block Nusselt number.
 C.T. Nguyen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506
temperature Tm,f (see Section 2.2). It should be mentioned
that an uncertainty of ±10.5% can be expected for com-
puted values of Nusselt number. For comparison purposes,
the tendency curves are also shown. Here again, we can ob-
serve that, in general and despite of some dispersion no-
ticed on computed values of the Nusselt number, the
latter has clearly increased with an increase of particle con-
centration and/or flow Reynolds number. Such an increase
of Nu number is more important for nanofluid with 6.8%
particle concentration, for which data points appear well
higher than all others. On the other hand, the data corre-
sponding to 1% and 3.1% nanofluids seems to follow a
same curve, indicating obviously that the augmentation
of convective heat transfer coefficient is of same order as
that of the increase of nanofluid thermal conductivity. It
is also observed that, for the range of Reynolds number
considered, the corresponding increase of Nusselt number
with respect to parameter Re appears generally less signif-
icant than that due to an increase of particle concentration.
3.3. Influence of particle size on nanofluid heat transfer
enhancement
In the present study, we have also attempted to experi-
mentally investigate the effect due to the particle size on
nanofluid heat transfer behaviour. Several tests have been
carried out for Al2O3–water nanofluid with 47 nm aver-
aged-diameter nanoparticles using the same closed fluid
system as previously described in Section 2. The compari-
son has been performed only for the particular particle
volume concentration of 6.8%. Figs. 6 and 7 show, respec-
tively, such a comparison on results obtained for the water-
block heat transfer coefficient and the convective Nusselt
number. In spite of some dispersion due to experimental
uncertainties, these data have eloquently revealed that, in
general, one can expect that, for nanofluids of the same
family (i.e. same kinds of constituents), a nanofluid with
smaller particle size does provide a better heat transfer.
Thus, for the range of mass flow rate considered in this
study and based on the tendency curves shown in Fig. 6,
one can clearly see that values of hw-block obtained with
900
hw-block (W/m² K)
850
36nm
Particle Size
800
47nm
Particle Size
750
700
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)
Fig. 6. Effect of particle size on hw-block for 6.8% particle volume
concentration.
1505
8.5
36nm
8
Particle Size
Nu
47nm
7.5 Particle Size
7
3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Re
Fig. 7. Effect of particle size on Nu for 6.8% particle volume concen-
tration.
36 nm particle size are consistently higher than the ones
corresponding to 47 nm particles. Such a result, which is
physically quite realistic, can be easily explained by the fact
that with finer particles and for a given volume concentra-
tion, the number of particles and hence their total contact
area are simply higher, which, in turn, would provide a
more effective heat exchange between the nanoparticles
and the continuous liquid phase. From the results of Nus-
selt number shown in Fig. 7, it is very interesting to observe
that, for a given Reynolds number, value of Nu obtained
for 36 nm particle nanofluid is clearly higher than the one
corresponding to nanofluid with 47 nm particles. Such a
rather interesting result regarding the influence of particle
size on nanofluid heat transfer is believed to be the first
of its kind.
4. Conclusion
In the present experimental study, we have thoroughly
investigated the heat transfer enhancement and behaviour
of a particular nanofluid, Al2O3 nanoparticle–water mix-
ture, for use in a closed cooling system that is destined
for microprocessors or other heated electronic compo-
nents. Data obtained have clearly shown that the inclusion
of nanoparticles into distilled water has produced a consid-
erable enhancement of the cooling convective heat transfer
coefficient. For a particular particle volume concentration
of 6.8%, the heat transfer coefficient has been found to
increase as much as 40% compared to that of the base fluid.
We have observed that an increase of particle volume con-
centration has produced a clear decrease of the heated
block temperature. Experimental results have also shown
that a nanofluid with 36 nm particle size provides higher
convective heat transfer coefficients than the ones given
by nanofluid with 47 nm particles.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the ‘Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada’ and the Faculty
of Graduated Studies and Research of the ‘Université de
Moncton’ for their financial support to this project.
1506 C.T. Nguyen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 1501–1506
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