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Cooling performance of a microchannel heat sink with nanofluids containing cylindrical nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes)

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Abstract

In this paper, we present the numerical method for explaining the cooling performance of a microchannel heat sink with carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-fluid suspensions. Here we will show that with increase of nanolayer thickness of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) the microchannel heat sink temperature gradient will be decreased. By using a theoretical model for explaining the enhancement in the effective thermal conductivity of nanotubes (cylindrical shape particles) for use in nanotube-in-fluid suspension, we investigate the temperature contours and thermal resistance of a microchannel heat sink with MWCNTs (with ~25 nm diameter) dispersed in water.

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Abbreviations

A r :

Aspect ratio of heat sink channel (W/H)

c p :

Specific heat of fluid at constant pressure

d f :

Diameter of fluid molecule

d nl :

Nanolayer thickness

d np :

Nanoparticle diameter

D :

Complex nanoparticle diameter

D c :

Characteristic length

f :

Volume fraction of nanoparticles in a base fluid

h :

Heat transfer coefficient

H :

Heat sink channel and fin height

K :

Thermal conductivity

l f :

Mean-free path of molecules in a fluid

l np :

Length of cylindrical nanoparticle

M :

Radius ratio of complex and simple nanoparticles (r np + d nl)/r np

M′ :

Parameter in the Eq. 2, M 2 − 1

Nu :

Nusselt number, hD c /K f

Pr f :

Prandtl number of fluid, μ f ρ f c P /K f

q :

Heat flux

Re f :

Reynolds number of fluid flow, u m D c /ν f

r np :

Nanoparticle radius

T :

Temperature

u :

Velocity in x-direction

u m :

Mean velocity in the heat sink channel

W :

Heat sink channel plus fin width, W c  + W F

W c :

Heat sink channel width

W F :

Heat sink fin width (thickness)

x, y, z:

Cartesian coordinates

ɛ :

Porosity of a heat sink, W c /W

θ :

Thermal resistance

κ :

Constant related to Kapitza resistance

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

ρ :

Density

eff:

Effective

f :

Fluid

nf:

Nanofluid

nl:

Nanolayer

np:

Nanoparticle

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Islamic Azad University of Mahabad, Mahabad, Iran

    Sadollah Ebrahimi

  2. Iranian National Center for Laser Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Jamshid Sabbaghzadeh, Maryamalsadat Lajevardi & Iraj Hadi

Authors
  1. Sadollah Ebrahimi
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  2. Jamshid Sabbaghzadeh
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  3. Maryamalsadat Lajevardi
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  4. Iraj Hadi
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Correspondence to Sadollah Ebrahimi.

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Ebrahimi, S., Sabbaghzadeh, J., Lajevardi, M. et al. Cooling performance of a microchannel heat sink with nanofluids containing cylindrical nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes). Heat Mass Transfer 46, 549–553 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-010-0599-1

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