Enhancement of heat transfer coefficient by addition of

nanoparticles
Dweep M. Sabapara
Institute of Technology Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Bhargav A. Gambhava
Institute of Technology Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Dr. A.M. Lakdawala
Institute of Technology Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT:
There are many methods of enhancement of heat transfer coefficient including active and passive
methods. Nanofluid is the passive method to increase the heat transfer. The present work deals
with study of the enhancement of heat transfer coefficient using nanofluid. Experiments are
performed using various concentration (0.05% and 0.1%) of CuO nano particles in the base fluid
– water. Moreover, the analysis is carried out at different Reynold number of nanofluid (2000 <
Rec < 6000) as well as hot water (Reh = 2400 and 3500). The observations are plotted between
heat transfer coefficient (Nu in non-dimensional terms), pressure drop (f in non-dimensional
terms) with respect to different Reynold number of nanofluid.

Key words: Nanofluid, Nano particles, Reynold Number, Pressure drop

NOMENCLATURE:

𝐶𝑝 Specific heat 𝐾 Thermal Conductivity V Velocity of fluid

𝑓 Friction factor 𝐾𝑒𝑓𝑓 Effective Thermal Conductivity 𝜌 Density of fluid
of Solid-Liquid mixture
𝑓̅ Ratio of friction 𝐾𝑚 Thermal Conductivity of Base Ф Volume Fraction
factor Fluid of Nanofluid at
ℎ Convective heat 𝐾2 Thermal Conductivity of different
transfer co- Particles concentrations
efficient
m Mass flow rate 𝐿 Length of pipe Subscripts
𝑤/𝑣 Weight by volume 𝑁𝑢 Nusselt Number
percentage
Pr Prandtl number ̅̅̅̅
𝑁𝑢 Ratio of Nusselt number i Inner
Re Reynold number ∆𝑃 Pressure loss o Outer
𝑅𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙 Wall resistance ∆𝑇 Temperature Difference h Hot fluid
𝑅𝑓𝑖 Inner fouling ∆𝑇𝐿𝑀 Logarithmic mean temperature c Cold fluid
resistance difference
𝑅𝑓𝑜 Outer fouling U Overall heat transfer coefficient
resistance

1 INTRODUCTION
Heat Exchanger is an essential element of industry as it served as a medium to transfer heat
from one fluid to another either through sensible heating/cooling or latent heating/cooling. For
augmentation of heat transfer in such application Nanofluid - a passive method to increase the
heat transfer coefficient - has recently been introduced. The Nanofluid technology was created by
Choi [1]. Generally, there are two types of methods i.e. active and passive. The active method
includes the external stimuli like electric field, vibration or acoustic media for the enhancement
of heat transfer. On the contrary, passive methods are those in which the internal characteristics
of fluids are changed or else the geometry of the heat exchangers is altered. Many researcher have
also combined two or more of above techniques in order to increase the heat transfer coefficient
which is called as a compound method. Nanofluid is a new kind of heat transfer medium,
containing nano particles (1–100 nm) which are uniformly and stably distributed in a base fluid.
These distributed nano particles, generally a metal or metal oxide greatly enhance the thermal
conductivity of the nanofluid, increases conduction and convection coefficients, allowing for
more heat transfer.
Many of the researchers have stated that the enhancement of heat transfer coefficient by 10-
14% is observed by addition of nano particle, however, Williams et al. [2], revealed no significant
increase in heat transfer coefficient.

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 Experimental Setup

Experimental setup consists of a test section, hot water receiver tank installed with a heater and
temperature controller device, cold water receiver tank, a refrigeration unit installed with
temperature controller, hot water pump, cold water pump and two rotameters (one across each
fluid flow line) as shown in fig 1.The test section is a 2 meter long horizontal tube-in-tube heat
exchanger with cold fluid (working fluid) flowing inside the tube, while hot water flows in the
annulus. The inner tube is made from a smooth copper tube with 7.5 mm ID and 9.5 mm OD.
While the outer tube is made from steel tube and has 28 mm ID and 32 mm OD. The outer surface
of the test section is thermally isolated by wrapping it with asbestos rope and then putting a thick
layer of glass wool insulation around it. A manometer is installed at inlet and outlet section of
cold fluid to determine the pressure loss in the tube side of the heat exchanger. RTD sensors are
inserted at the inlet and the exit of the tube to measure the temperature of the cold water. Similarly,
another two RTD sensors are inserted at the inlet and the exit of the annulus to measure the
temperature of hot water. All RTD sensors have a least count of 0.1 °C. The temperature
measuring unit is calibrated. The flow meter least count is 0.1 liter/min and having a maximum
capacity of 10 liter/min. The schematic diagram of the existing experiment setup is shown in fig
2.

Fig 1 Experimental Setup showing tube Fig 2 Schematic diagram of the experimental
in tube heat exchanger with both tank set up including tube in tube heat exchanger,
refrigeration system and heater
2.2 Methodology

The experiments are performed by keeping the Reynold number of the hot fluid constant at
2400 & 3500 and varying the Reynold number of nanofluid. Then same above steps are repeated
by adding different concentrations (0.05% and 0.1%) of CuO nano particles in the base fluid
water. Heat transfer coefficient of above readings is calculated and compared the same with
reference to water-water heat transfer coefficient.
Different parameters are measured from the experimental setup like nanofluid inlet and outlet
temperatures, hot water inlet and outlet temperatures, mass flow rates of both hot water and
nanofluid, pressure drop between inlet and outlet of nanofluid. From above parameters, different
properties are calculated on the basis of temperatures obtained from the experiments. On the basis
of mass flow rate, inlet and outlet temperatures of hot water, net heat transfer in the heat exchanger
is calculated as under,
𝑄 = 𝑚ℎ ̇ ∗ 𝐶𝑝 ∗ ∆𝑇 (1)
LMTD i.e. Logarthmic Mean Temperature Difference is calculated with the help of inlet and
outlet temperatures of hot water and nanofluid. The overall heat transfer coefficient is calculated
using eq. 2 with help of net heat transfer, area of the heat exchanger and LMTD.
𝑄 (2)
U= 𝐴 ∗ ∆𝑇𝐿𝑀
Reynold Number of annulus fluid is calculated using the velocity of fluid, hydraulic diameter of
the pipe and kinematic viscosity. Friction factor of hot fluid is calculated using an empirical
formula shown in eq. 3 and also calculated based upon Reynold number only as shown in eq.4.

𝑓 = ( 1.58 ln 𝑅𝑒 − 3.28)−2 (3)

64 (4)
𝑓=
𝑅𝑒

Nusselt number of hot fluid is estimated using empirical formula shown in eq. 5 which depends
upon friction factor, Reynold number and Prandtl number.

𝑓 (5)
(2) ( 𝑅𝑒 − 1000) 𝑃𝑟
𝑁𝑢 = 1⁄
𝑓 2 2⁄
1 + 12.7 ( ⁄2) ( 𝑃𝑟 3 − 1)

Heat transfer co-efficient of the annulus side is calculated with help of Nusselt number, equivalent
diameter and thermal conductivity of fluid.

2.3 Comparison of heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid with water

Inner heat transfer co-efficient of nanofluid is estimated using formula of overall heat transfer co-
efficient as shown in eq 6. In this equation, all factor like copper-tube resistance, fouling factor,
inner and outer convective heat transfer are considered.
1 (6)
U
Aout 1 Aout 1
 R fi  Rwall  R fo 
Ai hi Ai ho
Nusselt number of nanofluid is calculated using inner heat transfer co-efficient of nano-fluid. The
thermal Conductivity of nanofluid for different concentrations is calculated by using Maxwell
Model [3] and equation of this is given below

𝐾𝑒𝑓𝑓 3(𝛼 − 1)Ф (7)

=1+
𝐾𝑚 (𝛼 + 2) − (𝛼 − 1)Ф
𝐾2
𝛼=
𝐾𝑚

On adding 0.05 w/v % of the CuO inside the base fluid water, it is observed that the Nusselt
number is higher than that of base fluid water. This is because on adding Nano particles, heat
transfer area increases which increases the heat transfer rate and hence enhances the heat transfer
coefficient. The above behavior is shown in the fig 3 & 4 below at different Reynold number of
2400 & 3500 of hot fluid.

Nu vs Rec At Reh =2400 Nu vs Rec At Reh =3500

90
80 70
70 60
60
50
50
Nu

40
Nu

40
30
30
20 20

10 10

0 0
2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961 2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961

Rec Rec
Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1% Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1%

Fig 3 & 4: Nu vs Re for 0.05% and 0.1% w/v CuO Nanofluid and water at Reh 2400 & 3500

2.4 Comparison of pressure drop of nanofluid with water

Pressure drop is measured using water-mercury manometer between two end points of inner tube.
It is converted into friction factor as a non-dimensional term. Friction factor of copper tube of
inner nanofluid is calculated using Darcy Weisbach equation as per eq.8.
∆𝑃 ∗ 𝐷 (8)
𝑓=
1⁄ ∗ 𝜌 ∗ 𝑈 2 ∗ 𝐿
2

This friction factor goes on decreasing with Reynold number as friction factor is inversely
proportional to the Reynold number. Also on adding CuO nano particles in base fluid water,
friction factor increases as compared to water. This is because pressure drop inside the heat
exchanger increases with the addition of nano particles. This shows that pumping power too
increases with the addition of Nano particles. Also, it increases with increases in the concentration
of Nano particles in water. The graph showing variation of pressure drop per unit length with
Reynold number is shown in fig 5 and variation of friction factor with Reynold number is shown
in fig 6.
 ∆P/L vs Rec f vs Rec
0.07
4000
0.06
3500
3000 0.05
2500 0.04
∆P/L

f
2000
0.03
1500
0.02
1000
500 0.01
0 0
2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961 2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961
Rec Rec
Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1% Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1%

Fig 5: ∆P/L vs Re for 0.05% and 0.1% w/v Fig 6: f vs Re for 0.05% and 0.1% w/v
CuO Nanofluid and water CuO Nanofluid and water

Now at a particular Reynold number, both heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop also
across heat exchanger increases for nanofluid. Hence to compare whether heat transfer is
dominating or pressure drop is dominating, the graph is plotted between Nu/f vs Re of nanofluid
at different Reynold number of hot fluid of 2400 & 3500 and shown below in fig 7 & 8.

(Nu/ f) vs Rec At Reh =2400 (Nu/f) vs Rec At Reh =3500

2500.0
3500.0
2000.0
3000.0
2500.0
1500.0
Nu/f
Nu/f

2000.0
1500.0 1000.0

1000.0
500.0
500.0
0.0 0.0
2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961 2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961

Rec Rec
Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1% Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1%

Fig 7 & 8: Nu/f vs Re for 0.05% and 0.1% w/v CuO Nanofluid and water at Reh 2400 & 3500

It is observed that there is no much effect on heat transfer coefficient at low concentration of
nanofluid as the increase in the heat transfer coefficient is compensated by the increase in the
pressure drop inside heat exchanger.

Then to compare the above results with water, we calculated the ratio of the Nusselt number of
̅̅̅̅) and also ratio of Friction coefficient (𝑓)̅ calculated from Weisbach
both Nanofluid and water (𝑁𝑢
equation of both Nanofluid and water. Graph between (𝑁𝑢 ̅̅̅̅/𝑓)̅ vs Re of Nanofluid at different
Reynold number of hot fluid of 2400 & 3500 and shown below in fig 9 & 10.
 (𝑁𝑢 ̅/𝑓 ̅) vs Rec At Reh =2400 (𝑁𝑢 ̅/𝑓 ̅) vs Rec At Reh =3500

1.1
1.2
1.1 1

(𝑁𝑢 ̅/𝑓 ̅)
1 0.9
(𝑁𝑢 ̅/𝑓 ̅)

0.9 0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5 0.5
2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961 2846 4269 5692 7115 8538 9961
Rec Rec
Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1% Water Nano 0.05% Nano 0.1%

𝑁𝑢/𝑓 ̅ vs Re for 0.05% and 0.1% w/v CuO Nanofluid and water at Reh 2400 & 3500
Fig 9 & 10: ̅̅̅̅

From the graph it is observed that most of the points in the plots of Nanofluid at different
concentrations are above that of the water. And hence it can be easily compared and concluded
that on addition of Nano particles of different concentrations there is increase in heat transfer
coefficient as compared to base fluid water.

3 CONCLUSION

It is concluded that with increase in the Reynold number of working fluid, Nusselt number i.e.
heat transfer coefficient increases and also increases with addition of CuO nano particles.
However on increasing concentration of nano particles from 0.05% to 0.1% in water, no
significant increase in the heat transfer coefficient is observed. On adding nano particles pressure
drop also increases inside the heat exchanger. It is concluded that there is no much effect on heat
transfer coefficient at low concentration of nanofluid as the increase in the heat transfer coefficient
is compensated by the increase in the pressure drop inside heat exchanger. Thus, it is envisage
that the overall benefit in terms of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop might be achieved
with high concentration of nano particles.

REFERENCES

[1] S. Lee, U.S. Choi, S. Li, J.A. Eastman (1991), Measuring thermal conductivity of fluids containing
oxide nano particles, ASME Journal of Heat Transfer 121,280-289
[2] W. Williams, J. Buongiorno, L.W. Hu (2008), Experimental investigation of turbulent convective heat
transfer and pressure loss of alumina-water and zirconia-water nano particle colloids (nano-fluids) in
horizontal tubes, Journal on Heat Transfer 130.
[3] Maxwell, J. C.( 1873) A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford, NY, UK: Oxford: Clarendon
[4] A.S. Singhal (2014). Heat transfer enhancement using tube in tube heat exchanger, department of
mechanical engineering, Institute of technology, Nirma University.
[5] Heat exchangers Selection, Rating and Thermal design – Sadik kakac, Hongtan Liu
[6] Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning for Engineers: Principles, Practices and Applications – P.S.
Desai