Thermal and hydrodynamic analysis of nanofluids at low concentrations in a microchannel heat sink

In this study, heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of water based nanofluids with low volumetrical concentrations (Ø=0.0025 and 0.005) in microchannel under constant heat flux boundary conditions have been investigated. Nanofluids will be prepared by the addition of TiO2 nano sized particles into deionized water chosen as base fluid in two different volumetric ratios, and, the effects of parameters like flow velocity and particle volume fraction on heat transfer will be analyzed experimentally. The results have been presented with respect to convection heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. It is concluded that nano sized TiO2 particles in the base fluid have provided higher heat transfer and have not caused an excessive increase in pressure drop with respect to pure water. Convection heat transfer coefficient has also increased with an increase in the volume fraction.