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International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science

( Peer-Reviewed, Open Access, Fully Refereed International Journal )
Volume:05/Issue:06/June-2023 Impact Factor- 7.868 www.irjmets.com
EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT OF CAR

RADIATOR USING CU NANOFLUID WITH BASE FLUID WATER
Prof. Atul Tumane*1, Prof. V. A. Yewalikar *2, Dr. R. A. Kubde*3,
Ajinkya Wagh*4, Abhishek Sonkawade*5, Makarand Dhumal*6, Shravan Joshi*7
*1, 2Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES Modern College of Engineering,
Pune, Maharashtra, India.
*3Associate Professor, Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of Technology and Research
Badnera – Amravati, Maharashtra, India.
*4, 5,6,7 Students, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES Modern College of Engineering, Pune,
Maharashtra, India.
ABSTRACT
The demand for efficient heat transfer systems in automotive radiators has led to the exploration of innovative
solutions. This study presents an experimental and numerical analysis of the heat transfer enhancement of a
car radiator using a Cu nanofluid with a base fluid of water. Cu nanoparticles, known for their high thermal
conductivity, were selected to enhance the heat transfer performance of the radiator. The experimental
investigation involved the preparation of Cu nanofluids with varying concentrations of nanoparticles dispersed
in water. A magnetic stirrer was utilized to ensure proper dispersion. The prepared nanofluids were then
circulated through a specially designed test rig simulating the car radiator system. The heat transfer coefficient,
pressure drop, and overall performance of the radiator were measured and compared with the traditional
coolant (water) to assess the heat transfer enhancement.
Keywords: Nusselt Number, Heat Transfer, Rate, Flow Rate, NTU, Effectiveness.
I. INTRODUCTION
The efficient removal of heat from automotive engines is crucial for maintaining optimal operating conditions
and preventing overheating. Car radiators play a vital role in dissipating this excess heat, ensuring the engine
operates within a safe temperature range. However, conventional radiator designs and cooling fluids have
limitations in their heat transfer capabilities. To overcome these limitations, researchers and engineers have
been exploring the use of nanofluids as an innovative approach to enhance heat transfer performance.
Nanofluids consist of a base fluid, such as water, dispersed with nanoparticles, which can significantly improve
thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer properties. In this report, we present an experimental and
numerical analysis of heat transfer enhancement in a car radiator using a copper (Cu) nanofluid with water as
the base fluid. Copper nanoparticles are chosen due to their excellent thermal conductivity, stability, and
compatibility with the coolant system. The objectives of this study are twofold: firstly, to investigate the heat
transfer characteristics of the Cu nanofluid in comparison to pure water as the coolant, and secondly, to
numerically simulate and analyze the fluid flow and heat transfer performance within the radiator. The
experimental analysis involves conducting tests on a prototype car radiator, where the coolant is replaced with
the Cu nanofluid. Various parameters such as inlet and outlet temperatures, coolant flow rate, and pressure
drop across the radiator will be measured and compared with the results obtained using pure water as the
coolant. These experiments will provide valuable insights into the heat transfer enhancement potential of the
Cu nanofluid. The findings from this study will contribute to the understanding of the thermal performance
improvement achievable by implementing Cu nanofluids in car radiators. The results can aid in the
development of more efficient and effective cooling systems, leading to improved engine performance, reduced
fuel consumption, and lower emissions.
II. METHODOLOGY
The experimental analysis of heat transfer enhancement of a car radiator using Cu nanofluid with a base fluid of
water involves several key steps.
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The first step is the selection of suitable nano-particles, in this case, copper (Cu), which possess excellent
thermal conductivity properties. This choice is crucial for effective heat transfer enhancement.
Once the Cu nano-particles are obtained, their morphology and size distribution are analyzed using scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests. These
tests provide detailed information about the structure, shape, and size of the Cu nano-particles, ensuring their
suitability for the experimental study.
Next, the nanofluid is prepared by dispersing the Cu nano-particles in the base fluid, water. This process is
typically carried out using a magnetic stirrer to achieve a homogeneous mixture. Additionally, an ultrasonicator
is employed to break down any agglomerations and ensure uniform dispersion of the nano-particles in the base
fluid.
In the experimental work, the prepared Cu nanofluid is then tested in a car radiator setup. Heat transfer
experiments are conducted under controlled conditions, and the performance of the radiator using the Cu
nanofluid is compared to that of a conventional radiator using plain water as the coolant.
Calculations are performed to determine the heat transfer rate, efficiency, and other relevant parameters for
both the Cu nanofluid and the plain water. These calculations involve measuring temperature differences, flow
rates, and other relevant variables.
Finally, the results obtained from the experimental analysis are analyzed and evaluated. The heat transfer
enhancement achieved by the Cu nanofluid is compared to the plain water coolant, and the effectiveness of the
Cu nano-particles in improving heat transfer is assessed. The results provide valuable insights into the potential
application of Cu nanofluid in car radiators for improved cooling performance.
III. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
1) Experiment setup: -
Fig.1. - Schematic diagram of an experimental setup

Experimental setup includes: -
A. Radiator
Maruti car radiator is used in the test rig. It is a type of heat exchanger which is designed to transfer the heat
from hot coolant that flows through it to the air blown through it by the fan. The radiator used is of aluminum.
Radiators are made by brazing thin aluminum fins to flattened aluminum tubes. The coolant flows from the
inlet to the outlet through many tubes mounted in a parallel arrangement. The fins conduct the heat from the
tubes and transfer it to the air flowing through the radiator.
B. Fan

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Cooling fan maintains an engine temperature constant. Cars have electric fans; they turn on when the
temperature of the coolant goes above a set point. They turn back off when the temperature drops below that
point. The cooling fans are used to force the air through the radiator to accelerate heat exchange and cool the
liquid. They can be driven directly by the engine or driven by an electric motor. The rpm of fan used in test rig is
1550 rpm.
C. Water Pump
This is the heart of the engine cooling system. It pumps coolant through the whole cooling system, and into the
engine block. When the coolant has reached a certain temperature, the water pump will push the coolant into
the radiator where it will be cooled and returned to the engine. Here we are using single phase with 1450 rpm
water pump
D. Rotameter
Rotameter is used to measure the flow rate of a coolant from coolant tank to the radiator inlet.The capacity of
the rotameter is 600 LPH
E. Water Heater
3000-watt heater is used to heat the coolant in the sump tank like as coolant heated in Automobile engine.
2) Experiment Procedures: -
At the beginning of the experiment, we determined a certain volume of fluid to be used with water, coolant and
Nano-fluid in all concentrations. Then we determined a flow rate of all fluids, when valve gate is fully opened
(90 degree), semi open to (45 degrees), less opened to 30 degrees.
1. Put the fluid in the tank with the heater and turn heater on, then put the tank thermocouple adjusted to (90-
80-70) degrees Celsius.
2. When temperature reaches to (90-80-70) degrees Celsius in the tank, pump will turn on automatically by
using control system attached to the sensor in the tank. The pump draws water from the tank and then delivers
it to the radiator.
Fig.2. Actual Experimental setup

3. Measuring the temperature at radiator inlet and when the temperature is above 60 degrees Celsius the fan
automatically opens.
4. Fluid passes through radiator for cooling.
5. Measuring the temperature at exit of radiator.
6. The fluid moves to the reservoir again.
7. Repeat the previous steps with different
A. Concentrations.
 Base fluid + Cu 0.4% Volume

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B. Flow Rate.
 10 Ltr/min
 12 Ltr/min
 14 Ltr/min
 16 Ltr/min
IV. CALCULATIONS
Nanofluid Thermophysical Property: -
1) Density = 𝜌𝑛𝑓= ∅𝜌𝑝+ (1−∅) 𝜌
2) Specific Heat = (𝜌∁𝑝) 𝑛f = ∅(𝜌∁𝑝) 𝑝 + (1 − ∅) (𝜌∁𝑝) w
3) Viscosity=𝜇𝑛f= 𝜇𝑛f / (1 − ∅)2.5
(𝐾𝑠+2𝑘𝑓)−2𝜙(𝑘𝑓−𝑘𝑠)
4) Thermal conductivity = 𝑘𝑛f = (𝑘𝑠+2𝑘𝑓)+𝜙(𝑘𝑓−𝑘𝑠)
Table 1. Observation of Air and Water

SR.NO Observation Air (Cold) Water (Hot)
1 Inlet Temperature (°C) 25 40
2 Outlet Temperature (°C) 18 33
3 m i.e. mass flow rate (kg/hr) 0.2 0.16
4 Cp. Specific Heat (kJ/kg °C) 1006 4178
5 K Thermal Conductivity (W/mK) 0.024 .628
6  Density (kg/m3) 1.1 1000
Sample Calculation on Water: -
Number of Tube =20
di =10mm
=0.01m
L=340mm
Thi=40⁰C Tco=25⁰C
Tho =33⁰C Tci=18⁰C
ṁf hot = .16 Kg/sec
Cp=4.18 KJ/KG-K
40⁰C: -
𝝆= 4.34
C=4178 J/KG-K
K=.628 W/m-K
Qwater=ṁh×Cph (Thi-Tho)
=.6×4.178(40-33)
=17.54×103
Ai = 20×∏×D×L
=20×∏×0.01×0.34
= 2.136 m2
Assuming the Heat Exchanger (Radiator) to be counter flow we get,
𝜃1 = 𝑇ℎ𝑖 − 𝑇𝑐𝑜 = 40 − 18 = 22̇⁰ 𝐶
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𝜃2 = 𝑇ℎ𝑜 − 𝑇𝑐𝑖 = 33 − 25 = 8°𝐶
By LMTD Method: -
= m = (1 – 2 )/(𝑙𝑛 1 ∕ 2)
= 13.83⁰C
U = 𝑄/(𝐴𝑖 × 𝜃𝑚)
17.54×103
=
2.136×13.4825
= 608.97W/m2K
Effectiveness of Heat Exchanger: -
1) Ch = (m  Cp) water
=668.48
2) Cc = (m  Cp) air
=201.2
Cmin=201.2
Cmax=668.48
Now,
(a) Capacity ratio
(C): C = Cmin / Cmax
=0.3
(b) NTU:
(NTU): NTU = U · A / Cmin
=60.8.97×2.136/201.2
=6.465
Using NTU- correlation for cross flow HE with both fluids unmixed, we have,
1
Effectiveness = [1 − 𝑒𝑥𝑝[−𝐶{1 − 𝑒𝑥𝑝(−𝑁𝑇𝑈)}]] − 𝐶[1 − 𝑒𝑥𝑝(𝑁𝑇𝑈)]
𝐶
=0.8627
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Flow rate vs heat transfer rate
Table.(A) Flow rate vs heat transfer rate
Water Ethylene φ = 0.1 φ = 0.2 φ = 0.3 φ = 0.4
flow rate in Heat transfer
Q Q Q Q Q
LPM Q
10 3471.720833 4539.79 8169.134 9361.389333 9848.7025 10311.83467
12 4999.278 5992.5228 10619.8742 11233.6672 11818.443 12374.2016
14 6804.572833 7626.8472 12389.85323 14042.084 14707.39573 15338.85407
16 7776.654667 7990.0304 14159.83227 16048.096 16808.45227 17530.11893

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Graph.(A) Flow rate vs heat transfer rate

B. Flow rate vs U
Table.(B) Flow rate vs U
Flow rate in
U U U U U U
LPM
10 108.871894 167.2735171 493.0512213 432.3699815 588.0985828 743.8344411
12 156.9195049 255.7607716 813.8125047 827.9314298 904.9033214 892.6013293
14 213.5848817 355.9654931 928.0315933 1051.78789 1083.948364 1142.708899
16 283.6154577 372.9162308 1060.607535 1202.043303 1238.79813 1305.953028
Graph.(B) Flow rate vs U

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C. Flow Rate Vs NTU
Table.(C) Flow rate vs NTU
Flow rate in
NTU NTU NTU NTU NTU NTU
LPM
10 1.155816927 1.775826206 5.234380759 4.59017038 6.24343227 7.896771204
12 1.665904883 2.715233639 8.639679474 8.789570249 9.60672711 9.476125445
14 2.267481647 3.779037243 9.852263833 11.16609807 11.50752338 12.13134299
16 3.010947403 3.958991397 11.25973009 12.76125494 13.15145529 13.86439198
Graph.(C) Flowrate vs NTU

D. Flow Rate Vs Effectiveness
Table.(D) Flowrate vs effectiveness
Flow rate in
Effectiveness Effectiveness Effectiveness Effectiveness Effectiveness Effectiveness
LPM
0.69491303 0.86179819 0.85604695 0.85987256 0.85868601
10 0.62146359
1 2 6 7 6
0.73651209 0.78980329 0.88623218 0.88436200 0.88247465 0.88044679
12
9 6 9 8 1 1
0.81817858 0.84047094 0.90145502 0.89982822 0.89811685 0.89634628
14
1 7 3 3 9 3
0.87340351 0.85894764 0.91306312 0.91159516 0.91006868 0.90848861
16
6 3 6 4 7 7

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Graph.(D). Flowrate vs effectiveness

E. Flow Rate Vs h
Table. (E). Flowrate vs h
Flow rate in
h h h h h h
LPM
250.051918 531.342462 1274.83364 2191.33645 3073.87718 4827.63795
10
3 5 5 4 5 3
390.080992 801.568057 1988.74048 2629.60374 3688.65262 5793.16554
12
5 8 7 5 2 3
707.924764 1785.31067 2320.19723 4382.67290 6885.48489 14362.2229
14
2 4 5 9 4 1
809.056873 1496.26037 2651.65398 5008.76903 7869.12559 16413.9690
16
4 5 3 9 3 4
Graph.(E). Flowrate vs h

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F. Flow Rate Vs Nu
Table.(F). Flowrate vs Nu
Flow rate in
Nu Nu Nu Nu Nu Nu
LPM
10 3.981718444 20.76367575 15.24479659 19.98958838 21.49528971 25.75836611
12 6.211480772 31.32348799 23.78188267 23.98750605 25.79434766 30.91003933
14 11.27268733 69.76595053 27.74552979 39.97917675 48.14944896 76.63113918
16 12.88307123 58.47051092 31.7091769 45.69048772 55.02794167 87.57844477
Graph.(F). Flowrate vs Nu
VI. CONCLUSION
1. From above results we concluded that the effective concentration of Cu-nanofluid is 0.4% and 0.3% with 16
lpm.
2. From comparison shown in above tables with 0.4% and 0.3% the best cooling is achieved in 0.4% with 16
lpm.
3. We observed that heat transfer coefficient increases as the concentration of Cu-nanofluid increases.
4. We observed that heat transfer coefficient of experimental results is lesser than simulation results.
5. We can suggest Cu-nanofluid to automobile industry because the optimum results of cooling are successfully
achieved by usage of Cu-nanofluid in Car radiator.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am extremely grateful to Dr Mrs. K. R. Joshi ma’am principal of Modern College of Engineering, Our College
and Prof S. Y. Bhosale (Head of Department), Department of Mechanical Engineering, for providing all the
required resources for the successful completion of my Research.
My heartfelt gratitude to my guide Prof. V. A. Yewalikar and Prof. Atul Tumane, Assistant professors of
Mechanical Engineering, for his valuable suggestions and guidance . I would like to thank our group members
Abhishek Sonkawade, Makarand Dhumal, Ajinkya Wagh and Shravan Joshi for their active participation and co-
ordination which led to the success of this Research.
Last but not the least, we wish to thank our parents for financing our studies in this college as well as for
constantly encouraging us to learn engineering. Their personal sacrifice providing this opportunity to learn
engineering is gratefully acknowledged.

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VII. REFERENCES
[1] Kabeel, A.E., Abou T., 2013. The effect of using nano-particles on corrugated plate heat exchanger
Performance. International Journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, 52.
[2] Zeinali Heris, S., Nasr Esfahany, M., 2007. Experimental investigation of convective heat transfer of
Al2O3 /water nanofluid in circular tube. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 28, 203–210.
[3] Ghozatloo, A. et al., 2014. Convective heat transfer enhancement of grapheme nanofluids in shell and
tube heat exchanger. International Journal of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 53, 136–141.
[4] Zamzamian, A., Oskouie, S. N., 2011. Experimental investigation of forced convective heat transfer
coefficient in nanofluids of Al2O3 /EG and CuO/EG in a double pipe and plate heat exchangers under
turbulent flow. International Journal of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 35, 495–502.
[5] Albadr, J. et al., 2013. Heat transfer through heat exchanger using Al2O3 nanofluid at different
concentrations. International Journal of Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 1, 38–44.
[6] Anoop, K.B. et al., 2009. Effect of particle size on the convective heat transfer in nanofluid in the
developing region. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52, 2189–2195.
[7] Hussein, A. M. et al., 2014. Study of forced convection nanofluid heat transfer in the automotive cooling
system. International Journal of Thermal Engineering 2, 50–61.
[8] Vajjha, R. S. et al., 2008. Numerical study of fluid dynamic and heat transfer performance of Al2O3 and
CuO nanofluids in the flat tubes of a radiator. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 31, PP 613–
621.
[9] Heris, S. Z. et al., 2006. Experimental investigation of oxide nanofluids laminar flow convective heat
transfer. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 33, 529–535.
[10] Abad, M. et al., 2013. Experimental studies on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of
Cu–water and Al–water nanofluids in a spiral coil. International Journal of Experimental Thermal and
Fluid Science, 47, 206–212.
[11] Ho, C.J., Wei, L.C., 2010. An experimental investigation of forced convective cooling performance of a
microchannel heat sink with Al2O3/water nanofluid. International Journal of Applied Thermal
Engineering 30, 96–103.

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e-ISSN: 2582-5208

International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT OF CAR

www.irjmets.com @International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering, Technology and Science

Fig.1. - Schematic diagram of an experimental setup

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Fig.2. Actual Experimental setup

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Table 1. Observation of Air and Water

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Graph.(A) Flow rate vs heat transfer rate

Graph.(B) Flow rate vs U

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Graph.(C) Flowrate vs NTU

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Graph.(D). Flowrate vs effectiveness

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