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An experimental study of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of divergent wavy minichannels using nanofluids

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Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of an array of wavy divergent minichannels and the results were compared with wavy minichannels with constant cross-section. The experiment was conducted in hydro dynamically developed and thermally developing laminar and transient regimes. The minichannel heat sink array consisted of 15 rectangular channels machined on a 30 × 30 mm2 and 11 mm thick Aluminium substrate. Each minichannel was of 0.9 mm width, 1.8 mm pitch and the depth was varied from 1.3 mm at entrance to 3.3 mm at exit for the divergent channels. DI water and 0.5 and 0.8 % concentrations of Al2O3/water nanofluid were used as working fluids. The Reynolds number was varied from 700 to 3300 and the heat flux was maintained at 45 kW/m2. The heat transfer and pressure drop of these minichannels were analyzed based on the experimental results obtained. It was observed that the heat transfer performance of divergent wavy minichannels was 9 % higher and the pressure drop was 30–38 % lesser than that of the wavy minichannels with constant cross-section, in the laminar regime. Hence, divergent channel flows can be considered one of the better ways to reduce pressure drop. The performance factor of divergent wavy minichannels was 115–126 % for water and 110–113 % for nanofluids.

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Abbreviations

A:

Amplitude of wavy minichannel (m)

As :

Surface area (m2)

Cp :

Specific heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

Dh :

Hydraulic diameter (m)

DI:

De-ionized water

e:

Channel height (m)

f :

Fanning friction factor (−)

h:

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

k:

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L:

Channel length (m)

m:

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

Nu:

Nusselt number (−)

P:

Pressure (Pa)

Pr:

Prandtl number (−)

Q:

Power input (W)

Re:

Reynolds number (−)

T:

Temperature (°C)

u:

Channel bulk velocity (m s−1)

w c :

Channel width (m)

w f :

Fin width (m)

ρ:

Density (kg/m3)

μ:

Dynamic viscosity (N-s/m2)

αc :

Minichannel aspect ratio (−)

∆P:

Pressure drop (Pa)

ε:

Surface roughness (µm)

ϕ:

Volume concentration of nanofluids (%)

λ:

Wavelength of wavy minichannel (m)

app:

Apparent

c:

Channel

f:

Fluid

fm:

Fluid mean

nf:

Nanofluid

p:

Plenum

s:

Surface

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sona College of Technology, Salem, 636 005, Tamilnadu, India

    A. Dominic

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, India

    J. Sarangan, S. Suresh & V. S. Devahdhanush

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  1. A. Dominic
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  2. J. Sarangan
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  3. S. Suresh
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  4. V. S. Devahdhanush
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Correspondence to S. Suresh.

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Dominic, A., Sarangan, J., Suresh, S. et al. An experimental study of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of divergent wavy minichannels using nanofluids. Heat Mass Transfer 53, 959–971 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1865-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1865-7

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