Experimental Investigation of Force Convection Heat Transfer in a Car Radiator Filled with SiO2-water Nanofluid

In this study, effect of adding SiO2 nanoparticle to base fluid (water) in car radiator is investigated experimentally. Radiators are compact heat exchangers optimized and evaluated by considering different working conditions. The cooling system of a car plays an important role in vehicle's performance, consists of two main parts, known as radiator and fan. Improving thermal efficiency of engine leads to increase the engine's performance, decline the fuel consumption and decrease the pollution emissions. For this purpose, an experimental setup was designed. Effects of fluid inlet temperature, the flow rate and nano particle volume fraction on heat transfer are considered. Results show that Nusselt number increases with increase of liquid inlet temperature, nano particle volume fraction and Reynolds number. doi: 10.5829/idosi.ije.2014.27.02b.17 Nomenclature A peripheral area (m) Greek letters p c specific heat (J/kg K) ρ density (kg/m) f Friction factor μ viscosity (kg/m s) hy d hydraulic diameter (m)= ( ) 4 / A P φ volume fraction h heat transfer coefficient (W/m K) Subscripts k thermal conductivity (W/m K) b bulk m mass flow rate (kg/s) f Base fluid Nu average Nusselt number in input Pr Prandtl number ( ) ( ) / = f f f μ ρ α nf nanofluid Re Reynolds number = ( ) 4 / hy m d π μ & out output T temperature p particle w Wall