Characteristics of Nano Fluids
Abstract
The heat transfer characteristics of current fluids are tremendously improved by suspending nano-sized solid particles with diameter below 100 nm and are considered as prospective working fluids for the applications such as solar collectors, heat pipes, nuclear reactors, electronic cooling systems, automobile radiators etc. A Nano fluid is a fluid containing nanometer sized particles. The Nano fluids are obtained by dispersing nanometer sized particles in a conventional base fluids like water, oil, ethylene glycol etc. Nanoparticles of materials such as metallic oxides (Al2O3, CuO), nitride ceramics(AlN, SiN), carbide ceramics (SiC, TiC), metals (Cu, Ag, Au), semiconductors (TiO2, SiC), single, double or multi walled carbon nanotubes, alloyed nanoparticles (Al70, Cu30) etc. The present paper summarizes the current research in the Nano fluid studies on convective heat transfer performance, thermo-physical properties, effect of fluid temperature, inlet velocity, use of surfactant for better stability of Nano fluids, particle size, and different properties of Nano fluids. The article also suggests the direction for future developments.
Keywords
Nano fluids, Nano materials, Base fluids, Temperature.