International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 65 (2015) 89–93

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ichmt

Cooling performance investigation of electronics cooling system

using Al2O3–H2O nanofluid☆
M.R. Sohel a, R. Saidur b,⁎, S.S. Khaleduzzaman a, Talaat A. Ibrahim c,d
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
b
Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRE-RE), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
c
Vice Presidency for Projects, King Saud University, P.O. 70908, 11577 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
d
Mechanical Power Dept., Faculty of Engineering—Mataria, Helwan University, Cairo 11718, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 19 April 2015 In this study, the cooling performance of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid was experimentally investigated as a much better
developed alternative for the conventional coolant. For this purpose the nanofluid was passed through the
Keywords: custom-made copper minichannel heat sink which is normally attached with the electronic heat source. The ther-
Heat transfer mal performance of the Al2O3–H2O nanofluid was evaluated at different volume fraction of the nanoparticle as well
Nanofluid as at different volume flow rate of the nanofluid. The volume fraction of the nanoparticle varied from 0.05 vol.% to
Entropy generation rate
0.2 vol.% whereas the volume flow rate was increased from 0.50 L/min to 1.25 L/min. The experimental results
Minichannel
Heat sink
showed that the nanofluid successfully has minimized the heat sink temperature compared to the conventional
coolant. It was noticed also that the thermal entropy generation rate was reduced via using nanofluid instead of
the normal water. Among the other functions of the nanofluid are to increase the frictional entropy generation
rate and to drop the pressure which are insignificant compared to the normal coolant. Given the improved perfor-
mance of the nanofluid, especially for high heat transportation capacity and low thermal entropy generation rate, it
could be used as a better alternative coolant for the electronic cooling system instead of conventional pure water.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Nowadays, the nanofluids are being considered as the most ad-
vanced coolants used in the cooling devices. Nanofluids are consisted
of ultra-fine particles mixing with the conventional fluid called base
fluid like water, different types of oil, ethylene glycol, etc. But the mix-
ture of these nanoparticles with the base fluid has its own specific pro-
cess. Nanofluids have a great potentiality to improve the performance as
a working fluid in the field of nuclear energy, renewable energy, elec-
tronic device cooling system, etc. After the invention of nanofluid in
1995 by Choi and Eastman [1], there has been done a lot of analytical
and experimental research on it [2–5]. Within the recent three years
(2011–2013) the number of publications on nanofluids exceeded the
total number of publications published before 2011 since the establish-
ment of the invention. This means that nanofluids are gaining in the
process of time huge attention by different researchers.
The heat transfer performance of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid was studied
by Tullius & Bayazitoglu [6] through applying the minichannel heat
sink. They have observed a significant enhancement in the heat transfer
rate compared to the conventional coolant. Naphon & Nakharintr [7] also
experimentally investigated the heat transfer capacity of the TiO2–H2O
☆ Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: 966 13 860 4628; fax: 966 13 860 7312.
E-mail addresses: saidur@kfupm.edu.sa, saidur912@yahoo.com (R. Saidur).
nanofluid in the application of the minichannel heat sink. They observed
that the nanofluid increases the heat transfer rate considerably without
increasing the additional pumping power. There have been done some
of the numerical analysis to understand the thermal transportation
properties of the nanofluid [8–10]. Moraveji et al. [8] numerically inves-
tigated the nanofluid cooling effects and the pressure drop across the
minichannel heat sink. After getting satisfactory results compared to
the other available analysis they proposed that there is a correlation be-
tween Nusselt number and friction factor. It is worth mentioning that,
practically speaking, the nanofluid has not yet been used as a coolant
for the electronic devices. For the purpose of practical application, the
performance of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid was studied here experimentally.
That's why the application of nanofluid for practical purpose was inves-
tigated in this research article. The compact design of the heat sink and
the performance improvement of the nanofluid would be a great re-
placement of the conventional cooling system for the electronic devices.
2. Experimental method
2.1. Experimental setup description
In the cooling system, the coolant passes through a close loop that
consists of a minichannel heat sink, a radiator, a storage tank and a
pump. The pump creates enough pressure to force the coolant to pass
through the minichannel. During passing through the minichannel the

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90 M.R. Sohel et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 65 (2015) 89–93

properties of the nanofluid to efficiently calculate its performance. The

Nomenclature experimentally measured thermophysical properties of the nanofluid
are given in Table 1.
A area, m2 The heat absorbed by the nanofluid can be evaluated using Eq. (1),
Cp specific heat, J/kgK
Dh hydraulic diameter, m 

q f ¼ ρQ C p ðT out −T in Þ: ð1Þ
Hch height of the channel, m
h heat transfer coefficient, W/m2K
The heat sink base temperature is calculated by Eq. (2a) where the
k thermal conductivity, W/mK
base height is considered.
Lch length of the channel, m
ṁ mass flow rate, kg/s

q H
N number of channel T b ¼ T av;tc − in b ð2aÞ
khs Ab
Nu average Nusselt number
P

perimeter, m where the base area of the heat sink is,
Q volume flow rate, L/min
qf total absorbed heat by coolant, W  
Ab ¼ Lch N W ch þ W fin : ð2bÞ
Sgen,f frictional entropy generation rate, W/K
Sgen,t thermal entropy generation rate, W/K
T temperature, °C The log mean temperature difference (ΔTLMTD) is calculated by
um mean velocity, m/s Eq. (3),
vol.% percentage of volume fraction
W width, m ðT b −T in Þ−ðT b −T out Þ
ΔT LMTD ¼
 : ð3Þ
ΔTLMTD log mean temperature difference, °C T b −T in
ln
ΔP pressure drop, psi T b −T out

Greek symbols The convective heat transfer coefficient is related with the log mean
ηfin fin efficiency, % temperature difference and it is calculated by Eq. (4a),
ρ density, kg/m3
qf
h¼ ð4aÞ
Subscripts Aeff ðΔT LMTD Þ
av average
b base of the heat sink where, the effective surface area of the minichannel,
c cross section  
ch channel Aeff ¼ NLch W ch þ 2 ηfin H ch ð4bÞ
eff effective
f fluid where, the fin efficiency is calculated by an iterative method using
hs heat sink Eqs. (5) and (6) [11],
in inlet
nf nanofluid tanhðm H ch Þ
ηfin ¼ ð5Þ
out outlet m H ch
tc thermocouple
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
m¼ 2 h= khs W fin : ð6Þ

coolant absorbs heat produced just the bottom of the heat sink and re-
jects heat in the radiator section. In this way the heat sink becomes The dimensionless Nusselt number can be evaluated using following
cool and maintains a certain temperature. After the cooling section the Eq. (7),
coolant comes to the storage and then recirculates through the system.
The schematic of the flow technique is shown in Fig. 1. The dimension hDh
Nu ¼ : ð7Þ
of the custom-made copper rectangular minichannel heat sink was kn f
50 mm × 50 mm × 10 mm. The height and the width of each of the
minichannel were about 0.8 mm and 0.5 mm respectively. Each channel The friction factor can be calculated by Eq. (8),
was correspondingly spaced and the dimension of the fin was same as
the channel. The heat was generated by using two cartridge heater of 2 Dh ΔP
f ¼ : ð8Þ
total capacity of 400 W and were placed just bottom of the heat sink. ρ L u2m
The temperatures at different points were measured using RTD type
thermocouple (accuracy ±0.1°C). Total heat sink was placed inside an The thermal entropy generation rate is calculated using following
isolated box to make sure that there is no heat loss. A typical flow Eq. (9) [12],
meter (accuracy ±0.3%–±1.0%) and a pressure transducer (accuracy
±0.3%) were mounted to measure the volume flow rate and the pres- q2 P Dh L
Sgen;t ¼ : ð9Þ
sure drop respectively. All data were gathered using a digital data logger. Nu k T ave

The frictional entropy generation rate is evaluated by Eq. (10) [12],

2.2. Experimental data calculation
 3
All experimental data have been calculated using different types of m fL
Sgen; f ¼ : ð10Þ
equations. In this study, there was a requirement to identify the ρ T ave Dh A2c
 M.R. Sohel et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 65 (2015) 89–93 91

Minichannel heat sink

Flow
Tin Tout
meter Tc

Thermocouple
Cartridge heater 1 Cartridge heater 2
Tin, cooler

Pressure transducer Cooler

Pump Tout, cooler

Storage tank
Fig. 1. A system flow diagram of the cooling system for electronic devices.

Table 1
Experimentally-measured thermophysical properties of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid.

Thermophysical Properties Vol.%

0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

Density (kg/m3) 996.2 997.6 999.5 1000.8

Specific heat (J/kgK) 4037 4011 3995 3978
Thermal conductivity (W/mK) 0.6321 0.6331 0.6345 0.6357
Viscosity (Ns/m2) 0.0006575 0.0006586 0.0006595 0.0006605

3. Results and discussion gets less time to absorb heat from the bottom of the heat sink compared
to the lower volume flow rate. So, at lower volume flow rate, the tem-
3.1. Heat sink temperature perature of the base decreases in higher rate compared to the higher
volume flow rate of the nanofluid. The minimum difference between
The principle purpose of this experimental work is to minimize the the outlet temperature and the heat sink base temperature was obtain-
heat sink temperature by using nanofluid and to investigate the perfor- ed about 12.5°C at 1.00 L/min flow rate. Besides, the temperature differ-
mances at different volume fractions. Fig. 2 illustrates the reduction of ence decreases with the increasing of the volume fraction. The value of
difference of the heat sink inlet temperature and the base temperature this temperature difference also has a significant variation during the
at different volumetric flow rates. From Fig. 2, it can be said that the application of pure water or nanofluid with the increasing of the volume
temperature difference gradually reduces with the increasing of the vol- flow rate. At the maximum volume fraction and the volume flow rate of
ume flow rate. The heat sink inlet temperature of the nanofluid was al- the nanofluid, the maximum temperature difference was obtained
most constant after the heat rejection in the radiator. At a higher flow about 1.9°C compared to the pure water.
rate, the nanofluid absorbs more heat from the heat source and that
minimizes the heat sink base temperature. As a consequence, the differ-
ence between inlet temperature and base temperature decreases con-
siderably with the increasing of volume flow rate compared to the
pure water. Besides these, the volume fraction of the nanoparticle also
has a great effect on the cooling performance of the nanofluid. The
base temperature decreases with the increasing of the volume fraction.
At the maximum volume fraction (0.20 vol.%), the minimum difference
of the temperature between inlet and base of the heat sink was about
16.6°C and it was 1.2°C lower compared to the pure water.
Fig. 3 represents the changing in outlet temperature with base tem-
perature of the heat sink because of the variation of volume flow rate as
well as the volume fraction of the Al2O3 nanoparticle. Using the Al2O3–
H2O nanofluid, the temperature difference between base and outlet of
the heat sink decreases effectively with the increasing of volume flow
rate. But at the higher volume flow rate, the velocity of the nanofluid Fig. 2. The effect of nanofluids on the difference of heat sink inlet temperature and the base
through the minichannel rises and as a consequence the nanofluid temperature.
92 M.R. Sohel et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 65 (2015) 89–93
Fig. 3. The effect of nanofluids on the difference of heat sink outlet temperature and the
base temperature.
3.2. Thermal and frictional entropy generation rate
The changing of the thermal entropy generation rate with the varia-
tion of the volume flow rate of the Al2O3–H2O nanofluid is shown in
Fig. 4. The thermal entropy generation rate relates with the heat flux
rate and the average temperature of inlet and outlet of the heat sink.
From the said figure, it can be said that the nanofluid as a coolant or
heat transfer medium generates lower entropy compared to the pure
water. With the increasing of the volume fraction of the nanoparticle,
the thermal entropy generation rate decreases substantially. Also the
thermal entropy generation rate was much lower at higher volume
flow rate of the nanofluid. At higher volume fraction and volume flow
rate, the maximum reduction of the thermal entropy generation rate
was about 11.50% compared to the pure water.
Besides the decreasing of the thermal entropy generation rate of
Al2O3–H2O nanofluid, the frictional entropy generation rate increases
insignificantly with the increasing of the volume flow rate compared
to the conventional coolant. The frictional entropy generation rate re-
lates with the velocity and the frictional factor of the nanofluid. Fig. 5
represents the frictional entropy generation rate that increases slightly
with the increasing of the volume flow rate of the nanofluid. The in-
creasing volume flow rate results in the increasing of velocity of the
nanofluid that effects to raise the frictional entropy generation rate.
On the other hand, the increasing volume fraction of the nanoparticle
also increases the frictional effects between nanoparticles and inner sur-
face of the channel which also may results on the enhancing of the fric-
tional entropy generation rate of the nanofluid compared to the pure
water. It has been observed that whatever the rate of increase of the en-
tropy generation of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid is the difference compared to
the pure water comes very insignificant.
Fig. 4. Changing in thermal entropy generation rate with the volume flow rate of
nanofluid.
Fig. 5. Changing in frictional entropy generation rate with the volume flow rate of
nanofluid.
3.3. Pressure drop
In addition of the heat transfer performance improvement of Al2O3–
H2O nanofluid, there is also shown a little penalty on the pressure drop
across the channel of the heat sink. Fig. 6 illustrates the additional
pumping power requirement using Al2O3–H2O nanofluid with the in-
creasing of the volume flow rate as well as the increasing of the volume
fraction of the nanofluid. Generally, the enhancement of the volume
fraction of nanoparticle raises the density of the nanofluid and this addi-
tional density is mainly responsible for increasing this additional
pressured drop of the nanofluid compared to the pure water. On the
other side, the improvement of the volume flow rate also raises the ve-
locity on parallel and as a consequence increases the pressure drop. It
has been also noticed that the enhancement in the pressure drop can
be compromised in all cases in which the heat transfer improvement
using nanofluid instead of the conventional coolant.
4. Conclusion
In this study, the cooling performance of Al2O3–H2O nanofluid was
observed experimentally. Experimental results showed that the heat
sink temperature can be minimized using nanofluid instead of the con-
ventional coolant. The heat sink base temperature decreases with the
increasing of the volume flow rate of the nanofluid as well as the in-
creasing of the volume fraction of the nanoparticle. The nanofluid also
reduces the thermal entropy generation rate around 11.50% compared
to the pure water. Despite of there is also a little penalty on the frictional
entropy generation rate and the pressure drop across the minichannel
heat sink. The addition of nanoparticle to the base fluid increases the
density and frictional effects between the nanoparticles and the inner
surface of the channel, and associated penalties. Considering the
Fig. 6. Changing in pressure drop with the volume flow rate of nanofluid.
 M.R. Sohel et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 65 (2015) 89–93
performance of the nanofluid as a coolant, these inevitable penalties can
be accepted.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education
Malaysia (MoE) and the University of Malaya for the financial support
under the High Impact Research (HIR) project: UM.C/625/1/HIR/MoE/
ENG/40 (D000040-16001).
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