Study of Thermal Performance of Common Heat Exchangers by Using Nanofluids

In this work, an experimental study is carried out by using CuO based nanofluid in four different configurations of some common heat exchangers including shell-and-tube type, concentric, spiral and plate heat exchanger for the counter-flow arrangement. Necessary equipment, instrumentation, data-acquisition module and nanofluid preparation method is described. The experimental setup is benchmarked using water in both hot and cold fluid channels by validating its results with results reported in the literature. Afterwards, nanofluid is used in the hot fluid chamber and tap water is used for cold fluid for each of the heat exchangers. The analysis is carried out for three different concentrations of the nanofluid including 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% of CuO. The influence of nanofluid on the heat transfer from the hot fluid chamber and effectiveness is reported experimentally for three volume fractions. A ~21% enhancement of heat transfer in concentric, shell-and-tube, and spiral heat exchanger; whereas, a 26% enhancement is observed in plate heat exchanger. This research identifies an important avenue towards a more compact design of new heat exchangers, and heat transfer enhancement of existing heat exchangers.