Experimental investigation of pressure drop and cooling performance of an automobile radiator using Al2O3-water + ethylene glycol nanofluid

Adnan Topuz, Tahsin Engin, Beytullah Erdoğan*, Serdar Mert, Alper Yeter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, the cooling capacity and the pressure drop variation in an automobile radiator using nanofluid instead of water with antifreeze that are investigated experimentally. The nanofluid consisted of 50% Ethylene Glycol–Water mixture including Al2O3 nanoparticles with 0.5% volumetric concentration was used as coolant. In all experiments, the inlet temperature of the cooling fluid into the radiator was held constant at 95 C. The tests were carried out at the air inlet temperature between 23.4–28.6 °C, the air velocity between 1.7–4.3 m/s, the cooling loads between 2.5–15 kW and the cooling fluid flow rates between 10 and 25 L/min. Results demonstrate that 50% Ethylene Glycol–Water based 0.5% vol. Al2O3 nanofluid increased the cooling capacity of the radiator up to 15% compared to the fluid with only 50% Ethylene Glycol–Water mixture. Instead of 15% increment, radiator can make with smaller surface area up to 15%, or the flow rate can be decreased for same heat transfer rate, so fluid pumping power consumption can be reduced in order to save fuel as much as pumping power economy. In addition, it has not been observed a remarkable increase in the pressure drop.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2923-2937
Number of pages15
JournalHeat and Mass Transfer
Volume56
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • AlO nanofluid
  • Car radiator
  • Cooling performance
  • Heat transfer enhancement
  • Pressure drop

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